Seduction: Japan's Floating World

Escape to Japan's floating world through a selection of rare paintings, woodblock prints and kimonos at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum

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Asian Art Museum

Nov 05, 2014, 01:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Seduction: Japan's Floating World transports viewers to the popular and enticing entertainment districts established in Edo (present-day Tokyo) during the mid-1600s. Through more than 50 artworks from the acclaimed John C. Weber Collection, viewers are invited to visualize the alluring realm known as the "floating world," noted for its celebrated pleasure quarter, the Yoshiwara. Masterpieces of painting, luxurious Japanese robes, woodblock-printed guides and decorative arts tell the story of how the art made to represent Edo's seductive courtesans, flashy Kabuki actors and extravagant customs fueled desires and gratified fantasies.

Hell courtesan, approx. 1850, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797-1861). Hanging scroll remounted as a framed panel; ink, colors, and gold on silk. John C. Weber Collection. Image (c) Bruce Schwarz.

At a time when a strict social hierarchy regulated most aspects of the samurai and townsmen's lives, the floating world provided an escape. Both a state of mind and a locale, the term "floating world" refers to the diversions available in the brothel districts and Kabuki theaters of Edo, a city whose population approached a million by the end of the 17th century. The floating world's rise to prominence gave birth to an outpouring of new artistic production, in the form of paintings and woodblock prints that advertised celebrity courtesans, attracted potential patrons and guided them through the pleasure quarter.

The exhibition's centerpiece is one such guide: A Visit to the Yoshiwara, by Hishikawa Moronobu (d. 1694). This grand, almost-58-foot-long handscroll painting takes viewers on an imaginative virtual tour of Edo's licensed pleasure quarter, its exacting etiquette, famous brothels and chic fashions. The sensory experiences described in the handscroll—food, drink, dance and sexual encounters—are echoed elsewhere in the exhibition in paintings, serving vessels and textiles from the Weber collection.

Other exhibition highlights include 18th-century paintings and prints of courtesans by some of Japan's most important artists: Katsukawa Shunshō (d. 1792), Kitagawa Utamaro (1754–1806), Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) and Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861). These artworks demonstrate how artists used fashion, promises of intimacy, and disguise to stimulate desire and lure potential customers.

Seduction will be shown alongside a complementary exhibition, The Printer's Eye: Ukiyo-e from the Grabhorn Collection, which focuses on the artistic achievements of Edo-period (1615–1868) printmakers.

Organized by the Asian Art Museum, Seduction is curated by Dr. Laura Allen, curator of Japanese art.

The exhibition is on view Feb. 20–May 10, 2015. The Asian Art Museum will serve as the only venue for the exhibition.

Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of Hiro Ogawa and The Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Fund for Excellence in Exhibitions and Presentations. For more information visit www.asianart.org.

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SOURCE Asian Art Museum