Snapshots of the Past

[Children exploring an elephant] – Antique Wall Art

[Children exploring an elephant] — historic print
[Children exploring an elephant]. Historic print from the Japanese Prints collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this historic print of [Children exploring an elephant]. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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[Children exploring an elephant]

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Children climbing over and peering at an elephant is an unusual subject for a Japanese woodcut of this period, when such animals were still a rare sight in the country. Foreign menageries and traveling exhibitions had brought elephants to Japan only in the preceding decade or so, and they drew large crowds of curious onlookers. Around 1875, early in the Meiji era, Japan was opening to Western trade and ideas, and printmakers responded by depicting new animals, technologies, and customs. The print's color and lively composition show how the woodblock tradition adapted to record these changes, and the scene of children at play gives a sense of how ordinary people encountered the unfamiliar.

Medium1 print : woodcut, color.
Genredreams and substances
Notes[ca. 1875]
SubjectsChildren--Japanese--Japan--1870-1880. Elephants--Japan--1870-1880. Play (Recreation)--Japan--1870-1880.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,685 × 4,569 px · prints to 12 × 15 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-222111

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