SVJP-0188.2015: Kitagawa Utamaro. Series of horizontal o-hosoban shunga prints, c. 1803.
SVJP-0034.2014: Chōkyōsai Eiri. Neat version of a love letter (Fumi no kiyogaki), 1801.
SVJP-0041.2013: Torii Kiyonaga. Handscroll for the sleeve (Sode no maki), c. 1785.
Pictorial cloth boards, spiral-bound, pp.: 3 leaves: h.t., frontis., t.p., 1-326; 123 black & white plates within the pagination.
Actor: Matsumoto Kōshirō IV [[松本幸四郎]; other names: Omegawa Kyōjūrō, Ichikawa Komazō II, Ichikawa Somegorô I, Ichikawa Takejūrō, Segawa Kinji, Segawa Kingo] (Japanese, 1737 – 1802).
Signed: Shunkō ga. Size: Hosoban; 14 x 33 cm. SOLD
Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo period (1615-1868) were the products of a highly commercialised and competitive publishing industry. Their content was inspired by the vibrant popular culture that flourished in Edo (Tokyo). At any given time scores of publishers competed for the services of the leading artists of the day. Publishers and artists displayed tremendous ingenuity in finding ways to sustain demand for prints and to circumvent the restrictions placed on the industry through government censorship. Although Japanese prints have long been appreciated in the West for their graphic qualities, their content has not always been fully understood. This book draws on recent scholarship that makes possible a more subtle appreciation of the imagery encountered in the prints and how they would have been read when first made. Through stunning new photography of both well-known and rarely published works in the collection of the British Museum, including many recent acquisitions, the author explores how and why such prints were made, providing a fascinating introduction to a much-loved but little-understood art form.
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"Poem of the Pillow and Other Stories examines the artistic developments of Japanese erotic art from the ukiyo-e period, dating from the mid-seventeenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. Known by the delicate euphemism of Shunga or 'spring images', these pictures were hugely popular and admired, and are today highly collectable works of art. This book illustrates major Shunga works from important ukiyo-e masters such as Utamaro, Hokusai, Harunobu, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi and many others. World-renowned scholar Gian Carlo Calza defines these fascinating erotic works in their social, historical and artistic context, providing a broad overview of a subject that is extremely nuanced and intriguing. Beautifully illustrated with over 300 images, including woodblock prints, scrolls and paintings, this book is a perfect introduction to ukiyo-e erotic art." |
Published to accompany the recent successful exhibition at the Museu Picasso, Barcelona, this book sheds new light on Picasso's work - his connection with Japanese art. It is illustrated with images
