Drama and Desire

Drama and Desire:
Japanese Paintings from the

Floating World
1690–1850

Link to Gallery: drama and desire

Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating: caring not a whit for the pauperism staring us in the face, refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world . . .

—Tales of the Floating World (Ukiyo Monogatari),
approx. 1661, by Asai Ryoi

They lived for the moment: beautiful geisha, flamboyant actors, seductive courtesans. Meet the denizens of the "Floating World"—the theater and pleasure quarters of Japan's Edo period.