日傘を差す女|Girl Carrying a Parasol

The print employs fine cross-hatching to model the parasol’s folds, a technique borrowed from Japanese woodblock traditions to suggest depth without heavy shading. Colors are applied in soft washes over cream crepe paper, enhancing the delicate texture. The use of chirimen-gami, a crinkled paper traditionally used in Japan for kimono linings, adds subtle tactile variation. These choices mimic Japanese methods while revealing the artist’s adaptation through Mexican materials and sensibility.

Produced in Mexico during the early 1900s, the print emerged amid a wave of interest in Japanese art following the Meiji Restoration’s opening of Japan to the West. Mexican artists, influenced by imported prints and exhibitions, began experimenting with similar techniques. This work entered The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection as part of a broader effort to document global printmaking beyond European and American traditions.

In early 20th-century Mexico, artists engaged with Japanese aesthetics as part of a wider modernist search for alternatives to Western academic norms. The popularity of ukiyo-e in Europe and North America reached Latin America through publications and exhibitions. This print reflects not imitation, but reinterpretation—using Japanese visual language to explore local artistic identity within a globalizing art world.

This work stands as a quiet testament to the global circulation of artistic forms in the early modern era. It illustrates how Japanese printmaking inspired non-Japanese artists to adapt its techniques and sensibilities, not as replication but as dialogue. Its presence in a major Western museum underscores the expanding scope of art historical narratives beyond national boundaries.