Kicking off a series of new exhibits for the summer season, the University's Museum of Art premieres two additions to the Asian Galleries this month.

The Japanese Gallery welcomes one of its most interesting exhibits in years. Titled "Courtesans, Cross-Dressers and the Girl Next Door: Images of the Feminine in Japanese Popular Prints," the display includes several woodblock prints, silk screens and sculptures from the Edo Period (1615-1867). During this era, Edo (now Tokyo) served as the seat of government in Japan, boasting a strong military dictatorship that heavily censored art. Artists were forbidden to portray persons of noble rank, whether historical or contemporary. Consequently, they turned to prostitutes or kabuki actors for inspiration.

Though it began as an accidental period of art, Edo produced some of the most recognizable masterworks of Japanese culture. Kaigetsudo Dohan's "Courtesan in a Series of Twelve Months" shows the period's penchant for elaborate costumes. Decked in full-body, bold-patterned robes, the courtesans of Edo were works of art unto themselves. Dohan's lines are smooth and sophisticated, and as the Edo period progresses, we see the addition of gold, orange and green to the original black and white portraits.

Many Edo-period artists painted courtesans with their customers, but the ones in this exhibit are generally shown playing with flowers, smoking, reading letters or admiring men. In a refreshing reversal of gender roles, we see a portrait of a woman gazing down from a balcony onto a man playing the game "kemari," a combination of soccer and hackysack. While women are traditionally shown as sexual objects in art, in this piece the courtesan is dressed in heavy robes while the man's legs are exposed. This gender switching also manifests itself in other pieces, where the male Kabuki actors portray the women's roles onstage.

Kitagawa Utamaro's "Courtesan in Procession" showcases the finest in late Edo art. Considered the undisputed master in "images of beautiful women," Utamaro portrays a courtesan on her way to a palace, dressed in a floral-patterned robe of black, white and gray. The level of detail in her dress is simply unmatched by any artist of the time: Not only with the patterns, but with every crease and fold Utamaro draws we can see the woman's exact movements. And like most of the courtesan portraits in the exhibit, her face is expressionless, heavily covered in white makeup.

As spectacular as the artwork is in the exhibit, perhaps the greatest revelation is the behind-the-scenes look at Japanese woodblock printing. Surprisingly, these prints were never a solo effort, employing master carvers, colorists, painters and publishers to produce the final result. Each painting required up to 10 separate blocks, which were then transferred to paper to make thousands of replicas for Japanese poetry books and art manuals. The museum's glass-enclosed display shows the entire process of woodblock printing, accompanied with explanations of how each block was created.

Across the apse of the museum is the Chinese Gallery, which is currently showcasing "Flora and Fauna in Chinese Art." Including works from the last two millennia, the exhibit features ceramics, stone, textiles, calligraphy, paintings and garments that focus on plant or animal subjects. Interweaving themes of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian thought, the Chinese believed that plants and animals have meanings or purpose, whether spiritual or mundane.

One recurring theme throughout the exhibit is death. In order to promote a harmonious afterlife for the deceased, the Chinese crafted "death objects," which were designed to comfort the tomb's occupant. Excavated thousands of years later, these floral-patterned porcelain and clay bowls display the Chinese mastery of pottery. Similarly, the "Spirit Guardian Figure" from the T'ang Period (618-904), is a lion-figure with a human head. Such figures, made out of earthenware with a green-colored lead glaze, flanked the entrance to Chinese tombs and were designed to ward off evil spirits.

The glass-enclosed display at the east end of the gallery displays some of the exhibit's most intriguing works - a pillow in the shape of a tiger, a headless Buddah figure and several ceramic animals. Looming over them all is the spectacular "Battle at the Bridge," a giant rubbing of an etching on a Chinese tomb. The piece depicts a series of battles with horses, swords and knights, but they fit into an interlocking pattern, much like an M.C. Escher painting.

Fans of Chinese garments will probably most enjoy the "Pink and Turquoise Women's Jacket," a spectacular silk top with large embroidered peonies. The small butterflies, cranes and flowers on the sleeves were designed to draw attention to the coat's wearer, who was most likely a woman of upper-class standing.