Designed for Pleasure: The World of Edo Japan in Prints and Paintings, 1680–1860

Designed for Pleasure: The World of Edo Japan in Prints and Paintings, 1680–1860 at the Asia Society. "...Designed for Pleasure is a dazzling exploration of Japan’s famous 'floating world' of spectacle and entertainment. Through 140 masterworks from museums and private collections in the United States, the exhibition makes new discoveries about the patronage and commerce of an art that has been characterized for a century as sensational but plebeian. From luxury paintings of the pleasure quarters to Hokusai’s iconic “Great Wave,” "Designed for Pleasure" presents a focused examination of the period’s fascinating networks of art, literature, and fashion, proving that the artists and the publishers and patrons who engaged them not only mirrored the tastes of their energetic times, they created a unifying cultural legacy."