Humor has been a vital element in Japanese artistic expression, particularly in recent centuries. During the Edo period (1600-1868) the repressive rule of the Shogunate was alleviated through humor, both verbal and visual. As long as it was not aimed directly at the government, the great outpouring of comic poems, pointed jokes, witty puns, and amusing paintings was officially tolerated. The significant increase in migration of farmers and fisherman into towns and cities also contributed to a wide spectrum of comedy associated with the complex clash of people and customs.
This exhibition, organized by the University of Richmond, focuses on seven categories of humor that found rich patronage during this period: Parody, Satire, Personification, Word-Play, Fantasy, Exaggeration, and Playfulness through the medium of painting. The forty-eight works are drawn from private and public collections in the United States and include many famous artists of the time, such as Sōtatsu, Hakuin, Shōhaku, Jakuchū, Rengetsu, Nantenbō, and Kodōjin. Together they display a great variety of styles and subjects with the single common point of humor. Within their profoundly humanistic framework, the drollery, wit, waggishness, irony, and whimsy of the paintings in this exhibition will surely lead viewers to their own, often unexpected, smiles.
Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website