Shunga: Japanese Erotic Art Takes London by Storm

Tim Clark, the exhibition’s curator

Printed by Nishikawa SukenobuShunga. Man seducing a young woman, with shamisen on the floor behind. Hand-colored woodblock print, with green background. The same print, uncolored, exists in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (1711–16)

Painting, handscroll, shunga. One of the 12 erotic encounters. A mature samurai and a youth embrace under a quilt. A woman adjusts the bedding. Ink, color, gold and silver pigment, and gold and silver leaf on paper. Unsigned. (Early seventeenth century)

Utamakura (Poem of the Pillow) Printed by Kitagawa UtamaroShunga, color woodblock print. No. 10 of 12 illustrations from a printed folding album (sheets mounted separately). Lovers in private second floor room of a teahouse. Inscribed and signed. (1788)

Printed by Kawanabe Kyōsai

Uwaki no sō (Fancy-free Type) from “Fujin sōgaku jittai (Ten Physiognomies of Women)”Printed by Kitagawa UtamaroColor woodblock print with powdered mica ground. Girl with head turned, breast showing, wiping hands on cloth. Inscribed, signed, sealed and marked. (1792–93)