Marianne Simon-Oikawa a le plaisir de vous annoncer une conférence de Julie Nelson Davis (University of Pennsylvania) jeudi 9 avril 2026, de 17h à 18h, consacrée à l’incident du Shunpōan, un scandale survenu en 1934 et qui marqua durablement l’étude de la peinture ukiyo-e. Faussaires, experts douteux, emballement médiatique, enjeux financiers, l’affaire réunissait tous les ingrédients d’un roman policier haletant. La conférence sera donnée en anglais.
Julie Nelson Davis (University of Pennsylvania)
The Shunpōan Incident: Forgery and Ukiyo-e Painting
Presentation
The “greatest discovery” cried the headline in the Asahi Shinbun on April 26, 1934: two Sharaku paintings found in the Shunpōan collection. This private collection held seventeen rare ukiyo-e paintings—all masterpieces—and would be going to auction in May. Professor Sasakawa Rinpū verified their quality and the organizers produced a deluxe, full-color catalogue. Rumor had it that these paintings would be brought to the committee on Important Cultural Properties. During the auction preview, more rumors began—that these were not masterpieces, but forgeries. This talk examines the Shunpōan Incident, presents new evidence for the case, and considers the impact on the field ever since.
Profile
Julie Nelson Davis is the Paul F. Miller, Jr. and E. Warren Shafer Miller Professor of History of Art and Chair of the Department of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research engages Japanese prints, illustrated books, and paintings from the eighteenth through the twentieth century. Davis is author of Utamaro and the Spectacle of Beauty (2007, 2021), Partners in Print: Artistic Collaboration and the Ukiyo-e Market (2014), and Picturing the Floating World: Ukiyo-e in Context (2021), along with numerous articles and essays. Davis has received fellowships from the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, the Clark Art Institute, and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others. Currently, she is completing a book about imitation, homage, and fabrication in ukiyo-e and conducting research for a second project on the history of the illustrated book in Japan.
Contact : marianne.simon-oikawa@u-paris.fr
