The Old Man Mad About Painting Who Turned Waves, Mountains, and Desire Into Living Creatures Few artists escaped their own century as completely as Katsushika Hokusai. His images survived the collapse of Edo Japan, crossed oceans, transformed European modern art,…
Why Edo Japan Turned Human Desire Into a Laughing Monster This article examines one of Hokusai’s strangest erotic books. For the wider biography and artistic evolution of the artist, see Katsushika Hokusai. A Strange Book From the Floating World A…
Eight Arms, Endless Fantasies This article focuses on one image from Hokusai’s erotic world. For a broader view of the artist’s life, style, and place in ukiyo-e history, see Katsushika Hokusai. An Image Everybody Knows, and Almost Nobody Reads Correctly…
Beyond the Simplification of “Erotic Prints” Shunga is not separate from Ukiyo-e Shunga is usually introduced as a niche category of Japanese erotic art. This is misleading. It is not a marginal production, but a fully integrated part of ukiyo-e,…