"At its best, Chinese erotic art is a search for beauty in all its manifestations, for not only does it offer stimulation, it provides a source of great aesthetic pleasure. It never presents sex in a crude or pornographical way, but within a framework of beauty and harmony, enhanced with details of a profound or symbolic nature. Dreams of Spring presents for the first time the treasures of the Bertholet Collection, one of the world's most important surviving collections of Chinese erotic art. Many of the pictures reproduced are unique in their style and content, and have never been published before."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The definitive book on Japanese erotic art or shunga

This sumptous guide explains the cultural forces behind Shunga images and why the Japanese find them so erotic. It also reveals the influence of Shunga on great Western art movements such as Impressionism. Exquisitely and abundantly illustrated, this is the most comprehensively informative book ever to be written on the subject - truly a masterclass'.'