CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
Eroticism in Japanese Print and Popular Culture

Announcing two events at the University of Chicago:
(1) a conference on Eroticism in Japanese Print and Popular Culture taking
place on April 14, 2007 and (2) an exhibit of Japanese erotic prints,
running to the end of April, 2007.

Love in Art: Eroticism in Japanese Print and Popular Culture

A conference organized by the
Department of Art History at The University of Chicago

Saturday, Apr. 14, 2007

The Department of Art History, Room 157
Cochrane-Woods Art Center
5540 S. Greenwood Ave, Chicago IL 60637

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9:15 am: Registration and Breakfast

9:45 am: Opening Remarks

Hans Bjarne Thomsen, Art History, University of Chicago

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10:00 am . 12:00 pm: Panel 1

Chair: TBA

Hans Bjarne Thomsen, Art History, University of Chicago
„On the Problem of Pornography and ‘Shunga’“

Kristin Naples, Art History, University of Chicago
„Revelations of the Flesh; Images of the Male Journey in the Passionate
Prints of Kitagawa Utamaro“

Josephine Landback, Art History, University of Chicago
„Louder than Words? Representation of Loves in ‘Shunga’“

Steven Sugita-Becraft, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University
of Chicago
„Early Utagawa School and Eroticism“

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12:00 pm . 1:00 pm: Lunch Break and Exhibition Viewing
The Center for Gender Studies, University of Chicago
5733 University Ave., Chicago IL 60637

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1:00 pm . 3:30 pm: Panel 2

Chair: Hans Bjarne Thomsen, Art History, University of Chicago

Laura Miller, Anthropology, Loyola University
„Heisei Eroticization of a Wizard from the Heian“

Janice Katz, Japanese Art Curator, Art Institute of Chicago
„In the Guise of a Tale of Amorous Dalliance: Illustrations of the
‘Tales of Genji’ in Early Modern Japanese Art“

Elizabeth Lillehoj, Art History, DePaul University
"Sex, Restraint, and Propriety in Ukiyo-e"

Helen Nagata, Art History, Northern Illinois University
„Peering Behind the Scenes: Yoshiwara and Shimbara“

James Ketelaar, History, University of Chicago
„Reflections on the Great Mirror of Love“

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3:30 pm . 3:45 pm: Coffee Break

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3:45 pm . 5:45 pm: Panel 3

Chair: Jingwoan Chang, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University
of Chicago

Rebecca Zorach, Art History, University of Chicago
„The Sex of the Triangle“

Mei Mei, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
„Adapting Chinese Eros: A Case Study of the Seventeenth Century Album
‘Furyu zetchozu’“

Nancy Lin, Art History, University of Chicago
„Modern Bodies in Meiji Erotic Prints“

Mary Weismantel, Anthropology, Northwestern
„Drink Me“

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5:45 pm .6:00 pm: Closing Remarks
TBA

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6:00 pm . 7:00 pm: Reception
Lounge of the Art History Department

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Conference Organizer: Hans Bjarne Thomsen, thomsenuchicago.edu
Student Coordinators: Nancy Lin, nlinuchicago.edu; Mei Mei, mmeiuchicago.edu

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The above conference is held concurrently with the exhibition of Japanese
erotic prints:

Exhibition of Japanese Erotic Prints
at the Center for Gender Studies, University of Chicago

DATES: April 4-30, 2007
LOCATION: The Center for Gender Studies, University of Chicago
5733 South University Ave, First Floor
Chicago, IL 60637

TIMES: Monday-Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

LINKS:
https://events.uchicago.edu’genderstudies’eventdetail.phtml?eventid=51660

and http://uchiblogo.uchicago.edu’

EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION:

This exhibition of Japanese Erotic Prints at the Center for Gender Studies
is the first public exhibition of Shunga erotic prints in the Midwest. It
features a private collection including works by Utamaro, Toyokuni I,
Kunisada, and a selection of artists up to war-related erotic prints made
in the Meiji period.

Shunga is an important part of the woodblock print production of early
modern Japan and various scholars estimate that anywhere from one-fourth
to one-fifth of the total production of woodblock prints in that time was
erotic in nature. Moreover, it was a genre in which all known woodblock
print artists participated. Nevertheless, local public displays of the
genre have been non-existent, puzzling especially for a city that prides
itself for having one of the world's finest collections of Japanese prints
at the Art Institute. This exhibition is an attempt to start making up for
this puzzling lacunae. A major aim of the show is to show the various
contexts of the prints and will include a special emphasis on the (often
ignored) words that usually form an important part of the print designs.

The show will run for a month at the Center of Gender Studies and will be
co-curated by the students of Professor Hans Bjarne Thomsen's Winter 2007
woodblock print graduate seminar as a class project.

Hans Bjarne Thomsen
Assistant Professor
Department of Art History
University of Chicago
5540 South Greenwood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637 USA
Tel (773) 702-0266
Fax (773) 702-5901
thomsenuchicago.edu