Art Masters Who Inspire (2): Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa

The renowned ukiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎, 1760-1849）has been attracting renewed attention in Japan. The Sumida Hokusai Museum opened in Tokyo in November 2016,  displaying more than 1,500 artworks, sketchbooks, illustrated albums, poetry, instructional manuals. Best known for his iconic print, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”, Hokusai was an important influence on the nineteenth-century Western artists like Degas and Van Gogh. Composer Claude Debussy (1862-1918) drew inspiration from the artist for his orchestral work “La Mer”.

The first exhibition Hokusai no kikan (Hokusai’s Return) features 120 works, including some of the artist’s most famous creations. There is also a seven-meter long emaki scroll displaying a panoramic view of the Sumida River. Other exhibits at the museum include portraits of Hokusai and works depicting everyday activities in Sumida where the artist spent most of his lifet there.

Many of the Hokusai’s famous prints, including those from the Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji series are exhibited. The large, colour wood-block prints series depict Mt Fuji in differing seasons from different places and distances were produced from 1830 to 1832 when Hokusai was around age of 72 and at the height of his career. In this series, Hokusai’s wide-ranging imagination allowed him to “played around” with Mt Fuji, dwarfing, coloring, turning it upside down or hiding it against a surging or imposing background to the delights of his audience.

As an artist who sought perfection, Hokusai was always dissatisfied with his creations. At the age of 75, he created another series of sketches known as One hundred Views of Mount Fuji and in a postscript to this 1834 collection, he wrote:

“At the age of 90, I will come closer to the essence of art, at 100 I will reach the level of the divine, and at 110 each point and line will have a life of its own. I hope the gods of longevity will grant me the time to confirm the truth of my words".



Great Wave off Kanangawa in Thirty-Six Views of
Mt Fuji





Great Wave off Kanangawa in One hundred
Views of Mt Fuji

Comparing the “Great Wave off Kanagawa” in Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji series on the left and One- Hundred Views of Mount Fuji  on the right, you can find that that in the former, the crest of the wave looks like claws against the silhouette of Mt Fuji while the latter, crest of the wave looking like flying birds, thus depicting his ever-changing imaginations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides the Mt Fuji series, Hokusai also went on to create other impressive landscape works like the suspension bridge series from “The Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces” and the waterfall series called “A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces”. Like the “Great Wave off Kanagawa”, composition consists of a dwarfed against a surging background frame the scene yet the dual presence is nevertheless a harmonious part of this magnificent view.

 

The Suspension Bridge on the Border of HIda and
Etchu Provinces



Kirifuri Waterfall at Kurokami Mountain in
Shimotsuke

 

 

Hokusai Kirifuri Sketchbook of Manga, also attaches attention for the influence on contemporary mangaka, a collection of sketches focusing on pictorial and humorous storytelling, introduce the charms of unique field of Japanese culture.

This new museum certainly allows visitors to explore the rich life and creations of the artist, a day worth a visit.