Shunga Gallery

Shunga Gallery is a publisher of Japanese art that is both sensual and erotic by nature – shunga. I received a free review copy of their book "The Sensual Metaphors in the Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarter by Keisai Eisen" courtesy of Librarything.com. Eisen, a Japanese artist (b.1790-d.1848) working in the 19th century has a large portfolio of work of suggestive to very explicit sexual material. In addition to art and also writing, he was an accomplished drinker and self-reported brothel owner show more (Wikipedia).

The book features twenty-eight of his works. Like many, if not most, such art books, it has a plate and paragraph format. Nine illustrations of erotica do not depict actual coition. The remainder do so, however they may do so only implicitly such as where shoulders and heads are all that is depicted but depicted very tightly together. Shunga Gallery publishes with the “express purpose to offer a sensual oasis in a desert of prudishness.” They do so with Eisen’s high quality artwork quite well, as his subjects contain a variety of adult ages with depictions of both heterosexual and lesbian couples. While the subject matter has an expected draw to it, Eisen’s color use and balance of form and detail is pleasing to a non-expert seeking to appreciate the technique and skills of the artist.

As a piece of literature, the book does what many gallery – styled art books do, which is to leave the non – expert reader hungry for more context and discussion. While the book’s title subject is metaphors, the subject of metaphor is actually very lightly referenced. One has the suspicion that there are far more metaphors to be found than a few references to phallic-shaped flower parts, bat motifs and butterfly motifs. Many works incorporate Japanese texts in the background, but their meanings and possible purposes remain unremarked. This literary incompleteness is a charge that I would level against a majority of publishers of artworks – certainly not just SG. They are not committing an original sin in that regard. That pet peeve not withstanding, Sensual Metaphors succeeds in bringing fine Oriental material to the curious Occidental mind. show less