Hokusai. Shunga

Par (auteur) Marks Andreas
Short description/annotation:
Known as shunga or “spring pictures”, the erotica of Katsushika Hokusai, Japan’s most celebrated artist, combined brash sensuality with playful humor to show carnality in the most varied constellations. This edition presents his contribution to a genre that evaded government censorship to thrive in the vivid urban culture of Japan’s Edo Period.
Description:

Known as shunga or “spring pictures”, the erotica of Katsushika Hokusai, Japan’s most celebrated artist, combined brash sensuality with playful humor to show carnality in the most varied constellations. This edition presents his contribution to a genre that evaded government censorship to thrive in the vivid urban culture of Japan’s Edo Period.

Biographical note:
Andreas Marks studied East Asian art history at the University of Bonn and obtained his PhD in Japanology from Leiden University with a thesis on 19th-century actor prints. From 2008 to 2013 he was director and chief curator of the Clark Center for Japanese Art in Hanford, California, and since 2013 has been the Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art and director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. In 2024, he was awarded the commendation of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his contributions to the promotion of Japanese culture.