Book Japanese Erotic Art The Hidden World of Shunga - Thames & Hudson

Japanese erotic art, or shunga, has a long history, with thousands of high-quality images, prints, and illustrated books produced by both famous and anonymous artists, mainly from the late 17th to the 19th century. Shunga, often explicit but also delicate, sensual, and full of humour, and even educational—a euphemism meaning "spring picture"—celebrates all aspects of human sexuality. Hugely popular in Japanese society, such depictions were considered completely natural and are an expression of the sophisticated, pleasure-seeking culture of the "floating world," for which Japan's Edo period is renowned, when many of these works were created. Shunga works were enjoyed by all social groups, from samurai to ordinary newlyweds, especially after the advent of woodblock prints made them affordable and accessible—you could even borrow shunga books from libraries. Almost every artist from the famous ukiyo-e school, including Hokusai, Utamaro, and Kuniyoshi, created shunga demonstrating fantastic imagination, great technical achievement, and originality.

Offering a dazzling variety of images drawn from his unrivalled collection, Ofer Shagan shows us the full spectrum of sexual practices and expressions, including nudity and clothing, voyeurism, gods, monsters and animals, orgasm, adultery and jealousy, and many more. The thematically arranged book highlights symbols and motifs, often hidden in the background of the art, which are key to properly understanding and appreciating this genre. For a long time, shunga remained taboo and was excluded from scholarship, but this ambitious book, with a foreword by Professor Andrew Gerstle of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, restores these magnificent artworks to their rightful place in the history of Japanese art, culture, and society. With over 1200 illustrations, all specially photographed, and many rarely or never before published, this beautifully produced book explores the intimate riches of shunga in a way no other publication has done before.

Thames & Hudson was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their greatest passion and mission was to create a "museum without walls" and to make the world of art accessible to a wide audience, as well as the research of leading scholars. To reflect international perspectives, the company's name combined the rivers flowing through London and New York, represented in its logo by two dolphins symbolising friendship and intelligence, one facing east, the other west, suggesting a connection between the Old World and the New.

Today, still an independent, family-owned company, Thames & Hudson is one of the world's leading publishers of illustrated books with over 2000 titles in print. It publishes high-quality collector's books in all areas of visual creativity: the arts (fine, applied, decorative, performing), architecture, design, photography, fashion, film and music, as well as archaeology, history, and popular culture. The list of children's books is also expanding. Based in London with a sister company in New York and subsidiaries in Melbourne, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In Paris, another subsidiary, Interart, distributes English-language books in France.

The History of Thames & Hudson

Walter Neurath was born in Vienna in 1903. In 1938, he left his hometown—where he ran an art gallery and published illustrated books—for London. Initially, he worked as a production director at Adprint, a brand founded by Viennese émigré Wolfgang Foges. Neurath and Foges developed the innovative concept of what is now called book packaging (or co-edition publishing), in which book ideas are developed, commissioned, produced, and sold to publishers operating in different markets and languages to create large print runs, thereby reducing unit production costs. Neurath's concept was the first of many innovations he introduced to the publishing world through Thames & Hudson.

Desiring to continue packaging collector's books in the second edition and recognising the need to amortise the high production costs of illustrated books, Neurath founded his own publishing house, with offices in London and New York in the autumn of 1949. Eva Neurath, who arrived in London from Berlin in 1939, was a co-founder.

Of the ten titles published on the first Thames & Hudson list in 1950, English Cathedrals, with photographs by Martin Hürlimann, was the first and most successful. A testament to the brand's strong belief in the longevity of books from the very beginning, it remained in print until 1971. The first year of publication also saw "Out of My Later Years" by Albert Einstein, an early indicator of the programme's breadth. With the gradual and successful expansion of the list, which grew from ten titles in 1950 to 144 in 1955, the company moved its offices to High Holborn and in 1956 relocated to a Georgian townhouse at 30 Bloomsbury Street, near Bedford Square, then the epicentre of book publishing in London. The establishment remained at this address, eventually expanding to five houses, until 1999, when it returned to High Holborn.

In 1958, Thames and Hudson launched one of its most renowned series, World of Art, which became the foundation of a highly diverse list. Characterised by their pocket size and black spines, the series expanded in just seven years to include 49 titles. Nearly 60 years later, the series featured over 300 titles, of which, according to Christopher Frayling, "there are 'paint-splattered copies' in every art school in the country."

Other significant series that added depth and prestige to the list include Ancient People and Places, edited by Glyn Daniel, which since the 1950s has contributed to pioneering interest in archaeology, both in book form and on television. Over 34 titles were published in the series over 34 years. The large-format series Great Civilizations, published in 1961, included contributions from such esteemed scholars as Alan Bullock, Asa Briggs, Hugh Trevor-Roper, A. J. P. Taylor, and John Julius Norwich.
Having built one of the most important publishing houses in Europe in less than two decades, Walter Neurath passed away in 1967 at the age of 63. Sculptor Henry Moore wrote that "his death was a loss to our cultural life." Sir Herbert Read noted that Neurath "more than any other person was responsible for the revolution in publishing art books" and was "one of those rare entrepreneurs who successfully combined business acumen with idealism." Eva Neurath became the chairperson. Walter's son, Thomas, who joined the company with his sister Constance in 1961, became managing director; Constance later served as art director for several decades. Both Thomas and Constance remain on the board of Thames & Hudson, as do Thomas's daughters, Johanna and Susanna.
From producing the first commercial edition of The Book of Kells to the triumphant publication of the six-volume Vincent van Gogh - Letters, from such technical innovations as "French folds" to the controversial documentation of graffiti art in Subway Art, Thames and Hudson has always been at the forefront, both culturally and in production techniques.

The year 2016 opened an extraordinary new chapter for the company, heralding a publishing partnership with two of the world's most important museums: the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The world of art and scholarship thus remains at the heart of Thames & Hudson's publishing programme, which remains true to its core principle: providing a "museum without walls."
Today, Thames & Hudson is a recognisable international brand, a symbol of English publishing. Their catalogue includes thousands of original book titles, many of which are exclusive collector's books.