|
Title: Shunga:
Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art. Hardcover with dustjacket.
560 pages. English language.
1st edition (October 8, 2013). Author/editors: Timothy Clark. C.
Andrew Gerstle, Aki Ihigami, Akiko Yano.
Dimensions: 11 1/2 x 9 4/5 x 1 1/2 inches. Weight: 6
4/5 pounds. Publisher: Brill/ Hotei Publishing.
The catalogue
includes some magnificent long fold-out images !
ISBN-10: 9004263268. ISBN-13: 978-90044263260.
Description:
Uncover
Japanese art like no other. Initially established by the
artisans of the ukiyo-e school of the floating world to
promote red-light districts in the Yoshiwara of the
17th-Century, these well-known spring pictures (shunga)
surpassed class and gender in Japan for nearly three centuries.
These delicate, comical and vividly colored pieces honor sexual
pleasure in all its shapes, culminating in the alluring, still
explicit, work of iconic artists such as Utamaro, Hokusai and
Kunisada. This catalogue of a large global exhibition aspires to
answer some fundamental questions about what shunga is
and why it was created. Erotic Japanese art was massively
censored in Japan from the 1870s onwards as part of a
development of cultural modernization that imported many modern
western ethical values. In the last twenty years or so has it
been possible to publish complete examples in Japan and this
pioneering publication presents this spellbinding art in its
historical and cultural context for the first time. Within
Japan, shunga has continued to influence modern forms of
art, including manga, anime and Japanese tattoo art. Drawing on
the latest expertise and featuring more than 400 images of works
from large public and private collections, this landmark book
sheds new light on this unique art form within Japanese social
and cultural history. Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese
Art is issued to accompany an exhibition at the British
Museum from October 2013 to January 2014. |
