Sex and Laughter with Kyosai: Shunga from the Israel Goldman Collection

‘Shunga’ is the genre of erotic art that emerged during the Edo period in Japan as part the ukiyo-e movement. Numerous ukiyo-e artists are known to have produced works of this kind. Active in the second half of the 19th century, Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889) mastered a vast range of subject matter and styles, but also produced an extensive corpus of explicit artworks. The depiction of humans having sex was an opportunity for him to give free rein to his extraordinary wit and imaginative humour. This new edition offers a detailed look at these illustrations, their cultural context, and history, revealing Kyōsai’s prolific production as part of the culmination of the genre.