JAPAN: The Fine Art of Pleasure

The British Museum in London has mounted an extraordinary exhibition of explicit and beautifully detailed paintings, prints and books going back to at least the 16th century. Called Shunga (the term of curators and art historians) this Japanese visual celebration of the erotic has inspired artists such as Picasso, Rodin and Toulouse-Lautrec, and more contemporarily led directly to manga, anime and tattoo art. The exhibition includes lectures and discussions by world-famous experts, including a valuable panel discussion 25 October (“Shunga: Whose Pleasure?), which is to consider whether this art tradition was far advanced for its time in celebrating sexual pleasure for women as well as for men. Twitter #ShungaExhibition or www.britishmuseum.org

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.