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SEBASTIAN IZZARD LLC ASIAN ART JAPANESE PAINTINGS, PRINTS, AND ILLUSTRATED BOOKS

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NEW YORK CITY — The early years of Japan’s flamboyant, hedonistic school of ukiyo-e art is on view in an exhibition at Sebastian Izzard LLC Asian Art through April 5.

“Early Images from the Floating World: Japanese Paintings, Prints and Illustrated Books, 1660–1720” presents paintings, prints and books that illuminate the genesis and early development of ukiyo-e, which translates literally as “pictures of the floating world” and is a euphemism for scenes from the theater and red-light districts of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), Osaka and Kyoto.

The school of ukiyo-e developed in the mid-Seventeenth Century during Japan’s Edo period (1600–1868). While traditional Japanese art and prints focused on scenes from nature and religious imagery, ukiyo-e showed portraits of actors and beautiful women, scenes from the theater and erotica, all of which were available in relatively inexpensive prints and illustrated books.

The 37 works of art in the exhibition include two prints and five books illustrated by Hishikawa Moronobu (death 1694), the artist who is generally considered the father of ukiyo-e. The world he portrayed was robust and fun-loving. Highly regarded during his life, he established the first school devoted to the genre of ukiyo-e.

Also in the exhibition are nine rare guidebooks to the red light (Yoshiwara) district of Edo, which contain street plans and information about and revealing images of the area’s courtesans. The guidebooks contain Miss Manners-like advice on the etiquette governing the pursuit of “the path of love” in the quarter. Considered disposable at the time, the paperbound guidebooks are a trove of information and relatively few of these small (6-by-5-inch or 8-by-6-inch) books have survived.

Talented students and followers of Moronobu, including Sugimura Jihei (active 1681–97), are represented in the exhibit by illustrated books, hanging scrolls and complete or almost complete sets of shunga (spring pictures or erotica). A Kyoto-based rival of Moronobu was Yoshida Hanbei, who illustrated Ihara Saikaku’s Great Mirror of Male Love in 1687. The luxury presentation of this book in ten volumes — one of only two examples known — is in the exhibition.

The generation that succeeded Moronobu and his circle is also featured, with rare impressions of posterlike prints of courtesans by Kaigetsudo Doshin (active 1615–20), Torii Kiyomasu I (active circa 1700–1722) and Okumura Masanobu (1686–1753).

The exhibition coincides with “Designed for Pleasure: The World of Edo Japan in Prints and Paintings, 1680–1860,” which is on view at the Asia Society through May 4.

The gallery is at 17 East 76 Street, third floor. For more information, 212-794-1522 or www.izzardasianart.com.