Japanese Erotic Fantasies: Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period - Tapa dura

This is the first modern study on Japanese erotic print art (so called shunga) and shows highlights from the oeuvre of Kitagawa Utamaro, Katsushika Hokusai, Suzuki Harunobu, Utagawa Kunisada, Utagawa Kuniyoshi and many others. Various essays written by international experts describe this fascinating genre in its social, historical and artistic context, discussing themes like homosexuality, voyeurism, life in Edo's brothels, techniques of composition etc.

Christiaan Uhlenbeck has been a Japanese print dealer since 1982 and has curated exhibitions on Ukiyo-e, Shin-hanga and Japanese photography since the 1990s. His main interest is the commercial environment of Japanese printmaking, about which he initiated a conference in 2001. He has recently turned to the investigation of methodology in the study of Japanese prints. Margarita Winkel, Ph.D (2004) currently teaches at the Centre for Japanese Studies, Leiden University, and is publisher of the academic series of the Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS) at the same institution.