Masterpieces from the Hokusai-kan Museum, Obuse
Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave is an iconic image, famous the world over. Appearing on the one thousand yen note and Japanese passports, it also features in numerous commercial media and even has its own emoji! But how much do we really know about its creator: a brilliant, eccentric, and mischievous artist who went by more than thirty different names, moved ninety-three times throughout his life, and is now the most famous Japanese painter in the West?
The work of Hokusai, who described himself as an “old man mad about drawing” (Gakyō Rōjin), is immense, both in terms of the longevity of his career and the quantity of works produced. For a period spanning over seventy years, he created more than three thousand polychrome engravings, two thousand printed books, thousands of drawings—including four thousand for Manga, the other “monument” of his career—and some four hundred and fifty paintings, the inventory of which continues to evolve through research and discoveries.
Hokusai was one of the major artists of the Edo period (1603-1868) and of the art movement known as ukiyo-e (which translates as “images of the floating world”). Already during his lifetime, his impact on Japanese art was considerable. This influence was reinforced in Europe with Japanism and continues today in international contemporary art, with his works remaining a formidable source of inspiration.
In the face of this monumental production, the exhibition, without being a retrospective, offers an insight into Hokusai’s work through several important themes explored by the artist: water and the motif of the wave, female beauties and kabuki actors, nature, landscape, and particularly the figure of Mount Fuji. These themes allowed Hokusai to fully express his talent, as well as his inventiveness and desire to challenge existing codes by integrating and mastering both Far Eastern and Western influences. This exhibition is built around the collections of the Hokusai-kan Museum in Obuse, which include many of the master’s key creations. Exploring some of the artist’s preferred themes, it also reflects the rare and exceptional period of time that Hokusai spent in the village of Obuse, where he stayed towards the end of his life and produced his final masterpieces.