ANNOUNCEMENT: Exhibition period: July 22 (Thu) - September 17 (Fri), 2021 / Venue: Tokyo Midtown Hall Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), the gakyo (fanatic painter), who for 70 years constantly challenged himself to depict all elements of the universe. In commemoration of the 260th anniversary of his birth, an unprecedented special exhibition will be held at Tokyo Midtown Hall from July 2021, bringing together every page, every piece, and every image of his masterpieces “Hokusai Manga”, “Thirty-six views of Mt.Fuji,” and “One Hundred views of Mt.Fuji”. This exhibition has been postponed from last year to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and has been renamed “The Complete Hokusai” special exhibition.
It was an honor to attend this exhibit. The exhibition displays Hokusai’s sketches, his book illustrations, and his ukiyo-e (woodcut) prints. Coming to this museum placed within the air conditioned Tokyo Midtown in Roppongi is a welcome respite from the hot and humid summer.
I must comment on how aesthetically beautiful this exhibit is. I believe art exhibits should be works of art themselves. They aren’t always. I was deeply disappointed to visit the Guggenheim in New York City last year. The Guggenheim, fortunate to be housed in the 1959 architectural wonder by Frank Lloyd Wright, is sorely out of date - somewhat dirty looking and not well organized. The Guggenheim’s gift shop is narrow and incomplete. Housed in a phenomenal building that because of its incomparable architecture has survived the passages of time, the Guggenheim is in need of a design redo. Compare the dated looking Guggenheim to this beautiful exhibit of Hokusai’s work, only housed in a shopping center (admittedly a beautifully designed new group of buildings). There is no comparison. Send over some New Yorkers and get some educating on design, style, and efficiency. Get some more tips on how to run a equally incomparable transit system. (A topic for another journal post.)
Back to Hokusai.
Hokusai wrote,
“From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life. I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no lie.”
Hokusai lived to be 90.
The exhibit includes Hokusai’s Manga, not the modern cartoon version but a a massive collection of sketches made by Hokusai used to teach artists how to draw. The manga are collected in 15 volumes, the first of which was published in 1814 when the artist was 55. The last three volumes were produced posthumously.
Another portion of the exhibition is a digital selection of Hokusai’s drawings of commoners’ daily lives, his ukiyo-e, and Japanese mythical creatures. See the video above.
And then there are displayed all of his “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.” The most recognizable of those woodcut prints is Hokusai’s “The Wave.” Viewing these prints is one of those times when I said to myself, “Wow! So this is why one goes to art museums. To see the art up close and personal!” I want to know how Hokusai made those colors so vibrant, so piercing. 200 years old. Printed on paper! What are those colors, anyway? How can I make that deep red or that blue? And that wave! I’ve seen copies of that print on T-shirts, cups, iPhone covers. So cliche! But no! Now I get it. What a creation! Hokusai depicts a single wave of massive power, menacing claws, crashing over three tenacious little fishing boats. Nature over man. In contrast, Mt. Fuji sits peacefully in the distance.
A note: a positive aspect of this awful pandemic is that it is easier to attend museums today. Crowds are contained (I needed a reservation to attend), there are very few foreigners, and I felt special to be out and about with everyone wearing masks and I have been vaccinated.
