It’s considered classic art by Western art historians, yes, and some Japanese. That doesn’t mean it’s not considered pornography.
(There’s like, a wall of English-language Japanese art books in my den. I’m particularly fond of Hiroshige and ukiyo-e. But I know just enough to know how little I know, you know?)
legally here, shunga is technically obscene. Most art books I’ve found here blur or crop out the problem areas and there was recently some controversy about a museum exhibit.
You know it’s a good museum if the cops hate it!
A shame. I do hope that there’s not much risk of any (artistically) valuable works being lost due to their illegality.
Unlikely. The greater risk is paper deteriorating and ink fading. These were produced as cheap mass media not as collectors items.
Well, I’m personally fond of the work of Lucius Apuleius but I don’t hold anything against those who find it tacky.
The Nazis had to shut down the exhibition of degenerate art because people were queueing round the block to look at it and nobody wanted to visit the exhbition of National Socialist Art that was on at the same time.
It depends on your opinion of the tackiness of the Kardashian woman. She too was once famous for her golden ass.
Send me a memo when she successfully transforms herself into a bird after covering herself in unguents. Very curious as to her process.
As I understand it she transformed herself into a celebrity by, among other things, covering herself in unguents. But memos are so 20th century.
Ever eat rose petals?
It occurs to me that repeatedly saying “This is a just-so story” puts one in danger of creating a just-so story oneself.
Meanwhile, look up Toshio Maeda. For instance, this interview:
CJ: Can you talk about how the tentacle came to be used in your work?
TM: At that time [pre-Urotsuki Doji], it was illegal to create a sensual scene in bed. I thought I should do something to avoid drawing such a normal sensual scene. So I just created a creature. [His tentacle] is not a [penis] as a pretext. I could say, as an excuse, this is not a [penis], this is just a part of the creature. You know, the creatures, they don’t have a gender. A creature is a creature. So it is not obscene - not illegal.
Drawing intercourse was, and is, illegal in Japan. That is our big headache: to create such a sensual scene. We are always using any type of trick.
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