This exhibition will feature Synonyms, the latest series of photographs by the French performance artist and photographer, Pierre Sernet, together with shunga, a genre of Japanese art that has received increased international attention in recent years.
Sernet’s photographs portray intimately engaged nude couples, expressed as black-and-white silhouettes. In a similar vein, we will also be presenting numerous famous shunga belonging to Uragami Sokyu-do’s Mitsuru Uragami Collection. During the Edo period (1603–1868) shunga was a popular genre and many of the great woodblock print artists, including SUZUKI Harunobu, KITAGAWA Utamaro, KATSUSHIKA Hokusai, etc. turned their hand to it. Shunga were later to have a strong influence on the Impressionists and Pablo Picasso in the West. This exhibition offers a valuable opportunity to enjoy the contrast between the fine lines, color and bold compositions of the Edo prints and Sernet’s contemporary photographic representation of shunga.
*This exhibition includes works which explicitly show sexual images. With this understanding, please enter the exhibition at your own discretion.
