Opening March 16, 2006 at the Museum of Sex, Peeping, Probing & Porn: Four Centuries of Graphic Sex in Japan shatters a long-standing myth – that erotica, as a genre, began in the West.
March 6, 2006 (Press Release) --
NEW YORK, March 7th /TacticalPR/ -- Opening March 16, 2006 at the Museum of Sex, Peeping, Probing & Porn: Four Centuries of Graphic Sex in Japan shatters a long-standing myth – that erotica, as a genre, began in the West.
During the Edo period, (1630-1868) before Japan was opened to the West, it supported a flourishing trade in erotic imagery, called Shunga or "spring pictures." Edo, now Tokyo, was the epicenter of commerce, offering its population of bachelors gainful employment by day and the fantasy of the Yoshiwara, the licensed brothel district, by night.
Unlike the rarified works made for the affluent, Shunga's woodblock prints were mass-produced and often unsigned, thus circumventing government censorship. According to John Vollmer, Director of Curatorial and Exhibition Programs, "In this way Shunga was liminal. It was disposable rather than precious. It didn't officially exist."
Shunga was the "dirty little secret" – the black sheep of Ukiyo-e, admired by European collectors including Degas and Manet. Shunga in particular is cited as having influenced French Post Impressionist painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. While it maintained the rigorous aesthetic standards of Ukiyo-e, it departed in subject matter from the cultural Official Story.
Curator Elizabeth Semmelhack observes that "By re-contextualizing the more familiar icons of Japanese printmaking within the larger body of more overt pornographic work to which they belong, this exhibition reveals the erotic iconography of Edo period prints and offer a rare glimpse at long sequestered prints."
Shunga treated sexuality with candor and humor. While its European counterparts were content to capture courtship and the cigarette after, lovers were rendered in flagrante delicto. For the Japanese viewers, the prints had both a pragmatic and a sensual dimension: Brothel guides were designed for the well-born, but they chiefly served as a masturbatory aide for the yeoman with an empty purse. The art on offer wasn't the best –but it got the job done. There were even games of amusement made out of woodblock prints (imagine a courtesan's vagina as the landscape for arcade Skeeball).
Today's Japanese Manga – graphic novels, cartoons and comic books - and anime bear a direct lineage to Shunga. Voyeurism, masturbation, and some of their more scandalous themes - rape, over-exaggerated sex organs, sex with aliens, are first evinced in the work of Shunga artisans. Contemporary Yaoi – "boy's love" – frankly depicting homosexuality and the glorification of the beautiful boy -- also had its precedent in Shunga. For that matter, so did the money shot.
The Museum of Sex is proud to offer this rare glimpse of over one hundred objects from its permanent collection, including scrolls, woodblock prints, seminal examples of Manga such as The Rose of Versailles, and cutting edge anime.
Peeping, Probing & Porn is a groundbreaking exhibition on several levels:
•This is the first major Shunga show available to the American general public in nearly 20 years.
•The Museum of Sex is the first exhibition to curate Shunga and Manga comparatively, placing pornographic expression in a historical context, while allowing patrons a view of the direct line between Japanese popular culture of the past and present.
•While previous Shunga shows have privileged technique and form, Peeping… believes that only by parsing function can meaning truly be revealed. By considering the social and cultural context of the images we can begin to fathom the oblique relationship between sexuality and social mores in Japan.
The Academy Award® winning Memoirs of a Geisha is doing a brisk business at cinemas. Additionally, the tome upon which it is based continues to sell well at bookstores. Those who wish to delve further will find the show evocative, if not downright scandalous.
About the Museum of Sex
The mission of the Museum of Sex is to preserve and present the history, evolution, and cultural significance of human sexuality. It is committed to open discourse and exchange and to offering the public outstanding scholarship in its exhibitions, programs, and publications.
Since opening its doors in 2002, the Museum has produced eight original exhibitions and two online interactive Web projects.
The Museum of Sex is located at 233 Fifth Avenue @ 27th Street, New York, NY 10016. We are open 7 days a week: Sunday-Friday 11am-6:30pm; Saturday 11am-8pm.
Admission is $14.50; $13.50 seniors/students. Please visit http://www.museumofsex.com for more information, and to retrieve a coupon for $5 admission discount. Visitors under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
During the Edo period, (1630-1868) before Japan was opened to the West, it supported a flourishing trade in erotic imagery, called Shunga or "spring pictures." Edo, now Tokyo, was the epicenter of commerce, offering its population of bachelors gainful employment by day and the fantasy of the Yoshiwara, the licensed brothel district, by night.
Unlike the rarified works made for the affluent, Shunga's woodblock prints were mass-produced and often unsigned, thus circumventing government censorship. According to John Vollmer, Director of Curatorial and Exhibition Programs, "In this way Shunga was liminal. It was disposable rather than precious. It didn't officially exist."
Shunga was the "dirty little secret" – the black sheep of Ukiyo-e, admired by European collectors including Degas and Manet. Shunga in particular is cited as having influenced French Post Impressionist painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. While it maintained the rigorous aesthetic standards of Ukiyo-e, it departed in subject matter from the cultural Official Story.
Curator Elizabeth Semmelhack observes that "By re-contextualizing the more familiar icons of Japanese printmaking within the larger body of more overt pornographic work to which they belong, this exhibition reveals the erotic iconography of Edo period prints and offer a rare glimpse at long sequestered prints."
Shunga treated sexuality with candor and humor. While its European counterparts were content to capture courtship and the cigarette after, lovers were rendered in flagrante delicto. For the Japanese viewers, the prints had both a pragmatic and a sensual dimension: Brothel guides were designed for the well-born, but they chiefly served as a masturbatory aide for the yeoman with an empty purse. The art on offer wasn't the best –but it got the job done. There were even games of amusement made out of woodblock prints (imagine a courtesan's vagina as the landscape for arcade Skeeball).
Today's Japanese Manga – graphic novels, cartoons and comic books - and anime bear a direct lineage to Shunga. Voyeurism, masturbation, and some of their more scandalous themes - rape, over-exaggerated sex organs, sex with aliens, are first evinced in the work of Shunga artisans. Contemporary Yaoi – "boy's love" – frankly depicting homosexuality and the glorification of the beautiful boy -- also had its precedent in Shunga. For that matter, so did the money shot.
The Museum of Sex is proud to offer this rare glimpse of over one hundred objects from its permanent collection, including scrolls, woodblock prints, seminal examples of Manga such as The Rose of Versailles, and cutting edge anime.
Peeping, Probing & Porn is a groundbreaking exhibition on several levels:
•This is the first major Shunga show available to the American general public in nearly 20 years.
•The Museum of Sex is the first exhibition to curate Shunga and Manga comparatively, placing pornographic expression in a historical context, while allowing patrons a view of the direct line between Japanese popular culture of the past and present.
•While previous Shunga shows have privileged technique and form, Peeping… believes that only by parsing function can meaning truly be revealed. By considering the social and cultural context of the images we can begin to fathom the oblique relationship between sexuality and social mores in Japan.
The Academy Award® winning Memoirs of a Geisha is doing a brisk business at cinemas. Additionally, the tome upon which it is based continues to sell well at bookstores. Those who wish to delve further will find the show evocative, if not downright scandalous.
About the Museum of Sex
The mission of the Museum of Sex is to preserve and present the history, evolution, and cultural significance of human sexuality. It is committed to open discourse and exchange and to offering the public outstanding scholarship in its exhibitions, programs, and publications.
Since opening its doors in 2002, the Museum has produced eight original exhibitions and two online interactive Web projects.
The Museum of Sex is located at 233 Fifth Avenue @ 27th Street, New York, NY 10016. We are open 7 days a week: Sunday-Friday 11am-6:30pm; Saturday 11am-8pm.
Admission is $14.50; $13.50 seniors/students. Please visit http://www.museumofsex.com for more information, and to retrieve a coupon for $5 admission discount. Visitors under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
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