Sex and sensitivities: exhibiting and interpreting Shunga at the British Museum

Abstract

• For much of the British Museum's long history it has had a difficult relationship with sex, sexuality, and gender diversity. Most museums and galleries have been reticent to display publicly, or meaningfully interpret, objects that explicitly reflect these themes, or which challenge society’s heteronormative ideals. The museum’s special exhibition program has been an important means of addressing this lacuna from around 2000 onwards. This chapter focuses on the Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art exhibition that ran between October 3, 2013, and January 5, 2014. The exhibition, curated by Timothy Clark, Andrew Gerstle, Aki Ishigami, and Akiko Yano, was one of the outcomes of a large international research project focused on shunga, and the first substantial show in the UK dedicated to a unique cultural phenomenon. It drew on loans from Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the USA, as well as the British Museum’s collection of over 300 works. Exhibiting shunga in a balanced and representative manner posed numerous challenges. This chapter explores some of these issues by drawing on evaluations commissioned by the author to inform the development of the exhibition and to measure its public impact.