Utamaro

One can also see the influence of the Edo-period Japanese woodblock artist Kitagawa Utamaro, best known for his elegant, intimate portraits of beautiful women, or bijin-ga.

Expect references to Catullus, Eros, Venus, Utamaro and Zeus, alongside spotted hyenas, the ornate bell moth, sloths, slime molds, cheetahs and a great many more.

Strolling courtesans, Mount Fuji and a popular actor crossing his eyes appear in woodblock prints by leading 18th- and 19th-century artists — Kitagawa Utamaro, Toshusai Sharaku and Katsushika Hokusai.

In 1981 my interest for the Japanese aesthetic, fuelled by a steady diet of Utamaro and Kurosawa, of old and new, went full-blown in one of my most iconic collections – an epic commercial fail, truth be told.

The nudes — works by Utamaro, David LaChapelle, Francis Bacon and others — glimmer.