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Utagawa
Hiroshige (
1797-1858 ) Utagawa
Kuniyoshi (
1797-1861 )
p2590b
- p2595b - p2598b - p2600b - p2605. |
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Kuniyoshi
no Shunga (Bessatsy Taiyou) by Yoshihiko Shirakura and
Shugo Asano.
< Book is published by
Heybonsha, 2012.
Striking about the designs of the
Edo Brocades,The Eastern Library-series is that
they all feature intimate married couples. Courtesans or secret
mistresses are missing in these scenes. The focus is primarily
on the intimacy between husbands and spouses. Over the years
there has been much debate about the attribution of this series,
here you can find two examples:
These shunga belong to
the book Edo nishiki, Azuma Bunko (Brocades of Edo,
Library of Azuma; a three-volume hanshi-bon from about 1850), a
work traditionally attributed to Kuniyoshi and only recently
attributed to the catalogue of Hiroshige, of which this
represents without a doubt the masterpiece of the genre of the
erotic prints, thus rarely practiced by the artist. (Shunga,
the Erotic Art of Japan by Marco Fagioli) |
| Much
discussion has been generated regarding the artist of this book,
which was previously attributed to Utagawa Hiroshige (see
Hillier 1987: vol.2,907-8). The earlier attribution to Hiroshige
was based on the inclusion of his artists name
Ichiryusai on the title page of volume one. However, Tsuji
Nobuo argues (1995:2) that the name Hodoyoshi listed in
the preface of his book is in fact the pseudonym used by
Kuniyoshi in his erotic books (see cat. no.81). Tsuji also
believes that this was probably a work from around 1838, when
Kuniyoshi was at the peak of his career. (Japanese Erotic
Fantasies by Chris Uhlenbeck) |
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