Shunga

Behind a folding screen, two lovers and a great deal of kimono. Shunga, Japanese erotic woodblock prints and books, run here from the early 19th century through the Meiji period and into the 20th. Shunga were made by many leading print artists and, by most accounts, were bought widely, sometimes as gifts for a marriage. Here are 19th century shunga print books, Meiji period prints and diptychs, and early 20th century sheets.

The category also gathers later Japanese prints from the 1950s through the 1980s, and etchings and aquatints from about 1930 to 1950. Many are framed. Hang one in a bedroom or a dressing room rather than the front hall, and let guests find it on their own. Humor and tenderness were part of the tradition all along, and the kimono often gets more attention than anything else.