Reflections in a Yoshiwara Mirror

In 1776 publishers Tsutaya Jūzaburō and Yamazaki Kinbei issued The Mirror of Yoshiwara Beauties, Compared.  Featuring sumptuous illustrations by two leading painters, Kitao Shigemasa and Katsukawa Shunshō, this album exploited full-color multiple block printing to represent the glamorous “beauties” of the licensed pleasure district, the Yoshiwara.  Professor Julie Nelson Davis’ presentation will explore issues of collaboration between the publishers and painters as well as their larger social and economic network. By reading the album against guidebooks to the district, this talk further addresses how images and text operated to promote the fantasies of the quarter for its audiences.

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Asian Studies Program,  Visual Arts Department and the History Department