Students will produce a portfolio of woodblock prints based on an exploration of the history of Japanese prints during the Edo period (1603-1867). Ukiyô-e, or “floating-world pictures,” refer to the urban pleasures offered in the imperial capital Edo (modern-day Tokyo). The themes and individual artistic styles, first studied, then interpreted by the students in their prints, include: cityscapes and landscapes; representations of male figures as historical exemplars or kabuki actors; images of courtesans and beautiful women in bijinga; the exotic encounter with the west; and explicit erotic imagery.