Five Pictures of Low Tide, "Mother and Child"

This Edo ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861), "Mother and Child" from the series Five Pictures of Low Tide, is preserved in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums (object 207697). Shiohi-e, or low-tide pictures, formed a recognizable subgenre within Edo woodblock production, taking as their subject the popular pastime of gathering shellfish from exposed mudflats when the tide receded - a seasonal activity particularly associated with Edo Bay and other coastal waters. Such prints typically depict women, children, and townspeople bent over the sand with baskets, scoops, or wooden tools, sometimes barefoot, often dressed in tucked-up summer robes. Kuniyoshi, though best known for his warrior prints, contributed extensively to this kind of seasonal genre and bijin imagery throughout his career. The pairing of mother and child in the present design draws on a long-standing visual tradition in which the gathering of shellfish became a tender, often nostalgic celebration of domestic life by the shore. Kuniyoshi's draftsmanship gives weight and movement to both figures, while the pattern of the woman's kimono and the simpler clothing of the child reinforce the contrast of generations. As with all Edo ukiyo-e, the print would have been produced through the collaborative system of designer, carver, printer, and publisher and distributed to a broad urban audience interested in seasonal images of leisure and family. It demonstrates how Kuniyoshi's range as a designer extended easily from warrior prints into the quieter, more familial corners of Japanese woodblock printing.