On Tuesday the 10th of December, the printing and painting departments of the course organised a trip to The British Museum in London to see the Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art exhibition. We met at Victoria station ready to take the tube and make our way to the museum, where we purchased our tickets and went straight into the exhibition.
Most of the work was produced between the 1600's and 1900's and was banned in Japan over most of the 20th century. The erotic art is very explicit and detailed, but incorporates skilled techniques resulting in some beautiful outcomes, which are said to have inspired many famous artists such as Toulouse Lautrec and Picasso.
The majority of the work was created by artists of ukiyo-e or "floating world" school, the popular work became known as shunga which means "spring pictures". For almost 300 years men and women enjoyed the work, which was often tender and humourous, often used as manuals by newly weds, or just general art of beautiful coloured prints and paintings. Explicit works were produced by iconic artists like Utamaro, Hokusai and Kunisada.
Throughout Japan, shungha has been a huge influence of modern art and the innovation of print and painting including manga, anime and tattoo art. The exhibition is very revealing to old Japanese art, including how it is bound in books and scrolls as well as the social and cultural history. Another point of interest in the exhibition was the traditional kimonos and dresses with their unique prints and designs all incredibly detailed, it would have been nice if there were more to look at.
After we had seen everything we left the museum and took to the streets of Soho in search of pubs and restaurants, overall an interesting day of art and pubs.
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