Yokohama kenbutsu zue|Picture of Sights in Yokohama: Woman with a Ringer, Lamp Post, a Steamboat at Full Sail and a Woman with a Sewing Machine
11th month, 1860
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 14 3/4 x 10 in. (37.5 x 25.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005
Accession Number
2007.49.157
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the bustling port city of Yokohama during Japan's late Edo period (1615–1868), Utagawa Yoshikazu a vivid snapshot of cultural collision in his 1860 woodblock print, *Yokohama kensu zue: Picture of Sights in Yokohama This colorful ukiyo-e work—ink and color on paper, measuring 14 3/4 x 10 inches—depicts everyday wonders: a woman operating a laundry ringer, a gas lamp post, a steamboat billowing smoke under full sail, and another woman at a sewing machine. Yoshikazu, a master of the Utagawa school, used the precise layering of woodblock techniques to bring these scenes to life with vibrant hu...
About the Artist
Utagawa Yoshikazu
Utagawa Yoshikazu (active circa 1850–1870) was a Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print artist who came of age during one of the most dynamic periods in Japanese history — the twilight of the Edo period and the dawning of the Meiji era. Born and active in Edo (present-day Tokyo), he trained under the celebrated master Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of the towering figures of the Utagawa school renowned for his ...