Today's JSVB entry deals with sexual subject matter. However, the drawing is suggestive only in a very narrow context and shows no nudity. The text, on the other hand, deals with some adult topics. Only if you can view mature content should you scroll down to see today's post.
Yesterday's JSVB post involved the Japanese art of ukiyo-e, which is a woodcut print. These prints caught on with wealthy urban Japanese called Edokkai (people who lived in the prosperous city of Edo) during the 17th and 18th century. The woodcut designs could be printed off hundreds of times, allowing the artist to reach a broad audience with high quality work that was also relatively inexpensive. I'm no expert in the field of ukiyo-e, but I have studied them a little. I imitate some famous ukiyo-e in yesterday's post; please click here to see it.
Japanese woodcuts made it easy to create artful pornography, which was popular with the Edokkai. One common erotic statement was to show a woman chewing on a strand of her own hair, or with a bit of her clothing in her mouth. Since upperclass Japanese women strove to attain iki, a sort of idealized national aesthetic perfection, they would break from their strict sense of style only when experiencing great emotional turmoil. The lady would be so transported by her inner thoughts of erotic pleasure that she would lose herself in thought and fixate orally.
The image of a woman chewing on her hair or clothing was highly sexually charged without being explicit. Compared to today's pornography, I find this statement to be subtle and yet still powerful if you know what to look for.
Of course, there are many examples of Japanese woodcuts that show a lot of nudity and many forms of sex in full detail. I just think that this particular form of eroticism is interesting, as many Westerners will miss the visual cue.
I made this fictional "Erotic Edokkai" magazine in Photoshop. I took a Tokaido ukiyo-e and redrew it and repainted it by hand (a weak imitation of the original). I think the poster is actually of a male actor pretending to be a woman, but I am not sure, and in this case it doesn't matter. I added text and composited the cover image onto an old magazine. I added some shine to the staples and dumped the image onto a texture file of a sheet of wood. Note that the spine of the magazine is on the right, as Japanese books are meant to be read from right to left.
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