Two Sequential Exhibitions
Kitagawa Utamaro ／／ Katsushika Hokusai
Beginning in 2025, Gallery de sol’s “1111 Project” explores new possibilities for how art may be presented and experienced. Moving between print-based works and performance video, the project centers on a deliberately slowed encounter—inviting viewers to spend time with a single work. It is a quiet offering to a fast-moving world.
With the arrival of spring, we revisit a mode of viewing rarely found in museums or galleries: the act of “leafing through” a complete set of shunga. Typically reserved for collectors, this intimate and tactile experience is opened to the public in “1111 Project — Shunga.” Visitors are invited to handle and browse selected works from the Gallery’s collection, engaging with them through a collector’s sensibility—where intimacy and attention become a form of luxury.
Shunga, or erotic art, appears across cultures as a direct expression of human desire. Within Japanese ukiyo-e, it developed into a distinctive and highly regarded genre. Its imagery—at once exaggerated, bold, and intricately refined—captivated audiences of its time and continues to resonate today.
Widely popular yet repeatedly censored, shunga was often hidden from view due to moral constraints and its explicit nature. Yet it was precisely within this marginal space that artistic imagination could fully unfold. Its rarity elevated its value, enabling the use of the most sophisticated techniques and finest materials.
Among ukiyo-e practices, shunga stands as one of the most technically demanding forms, entrusted only to master artists and craftsmen. Presented in two parts, this exhibition features rare shunga albums by Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai—offering a singular encounter with shunga in the gentle atmosphere of spring.
One room, one work, one encounter.
Between softly turning pages, let us glimpse a piece of spring in full bloom.
Kitagawa Utamaro（喜多川歌麿, きたがわ うたまろ, 1753－1806）
One of the most renowned masters of ukiyo-e, Utamaro is celebrated for his close-up portraits of figures, particularly his elegant depictions of women. He was discovered by the prominent Edo-period publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō, and is regarded alongside Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige as one of the three great masters of ukiyo-e.
Katsushika Hokusai（葛飾北齋, かつしか ほくさい, 1760－1849）
An internationally celebrated ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period and a defining figure of late Edo culture. Exceptionally versatile, Hokusai worked across woodblock prints, ink painting, textile design, and book illustration. His most iconic works include Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji and the long-running publication Hokusai Manga, produced over a span of more than six decades.
｜Exhibition Information｜
Apr 7 – Apr 29, 2026 Kitagawa Utamaro｜艷本菊迺露 (Enpon Kiku no Tsuyu)
May 1 – May 24, 2026 Katsushika Hokusai｜徒間佳左寢 (Aduma no Yoi-ne)
Location | Gallery de sol
Address | 3F, Mandarin Gallery, No.166, Dunhua N. Rd., Songshan Dist., Taipei
Hours | Tue–Sun 1:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Tickets | https://www.accupass.com/go/1111shunga
Admission | Entry by on-site queue. Visitors under 18 are not permitted (ID required).
Up to three visitors may browse the works at one time; viewing time may be limited depending on queue conditions.
Pricing | NT$600 per session
LINE@ member price NT$450
Member bundle (both exhibitions): NT$800
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