He may very well be the most productive artist of the eighteenth century. Refuting outmoded paradigms of connoisseurship and challenging the assumptions of conventional print scholarship, Allen Hockley elevates this important figure from the status of a minor Edo-period artist. He argues that Koryusai excelled by the most significant measure -- he was a highly successful creator of popular commodities. Employing an "active audience" model, Hockley reshapes the study of ukiyo-e as a.

This publication offers the reader a ravishing selection of erotic prints ("shunga") by the first full-color woodblock-print masters: Suzuki Harunobu (c. 1725-70) and Isoda Kory{sai (act. c. 1764-88). It is based on a private collection of prints of remarkable quality, their radiant colors perfectly preserved by the albums in which they were kept. The first volume in a popular series on erotic prints by famous Japanese woodblock-print artists, this book contains a detailed general introduction to the genre of "shunga." In addition to a description of the historical and cultural settings of the prints, it focuses in particular on the locations and interiors where the erotic action takes place.

Featuring paintings, handscrolls, prints, and illustrated books of erotica produced in Japan between 1600 and 1900, Shunga showcases some of the finest examples of Japanese erotic art, created with opulent materials and special printing effects.

"Published in conjunction with the exhibition Looking East, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee, January 31-May 11, 2014; Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, June 28-September 15, 2014; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Japan, September 30-November 30, 2014; Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Japan, January 2-May 10, 2015; Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec, Canada, June 11-September 27, 2015; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, California, October 30, 2015-January 24, 2016"--Colophon.