Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave at the British Museum

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Beyond the Great Wave is a rare opportunity for visitors to see Katsushika Hokusai's later work, particularly his paintings. Many have never been exhibited before in the UK, and some pieces cannot be on show for long periods of time due to their light sensitivity. We would like visitors to have an intimate experience of these sublime works of art and understand more about Hokusai’s art and personal life in his old age.

During his later years Hokusai increasingly withdrew from the world of commercial print design and book illustration in favour of painting. From his 88th year until his death at age 90, Hokusai’s extraordinary last painted works show that the artist had indeed reached a sublime realm in his beliefs and art. Hokusai believed that the older he got, the better his art became. During the later period of his life, art became an all-consuming spiritual conviction and quest to immortality.

Hokusai frequently changed his art names to reflect new departures in his life and art. One of these was Old Man Crazy to Paint, which he used for One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. He fervently believed that his skills as an artist would continue to improve the older he got, and impressed all his last paintings with a talismanic seal reading Hundred.

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This exhibition also looks at the personal life of Hokusai. In the late 1820s he suffered many personal challenges including illness and financial woes caused by an errant grandson. His daughter Eijo, herself an accomplished artist, quit an unsuccessful marriage to return and care for her aged father, and to work with and alongside him. Hokusai also frequently moved house – by one account, 93 times in his life.

The artist considered that he was passing on 'divine teachings' to his pupils, to craft artists and to the world. He published numerous brush-drawing manuals, notably Hokusai manga (Hokusai's Sketches, 15 vols, 1814-1878) which spread his artistic style and reputation widely into society. Hokusai is, arguably, one of the fathers of modern manga.

From 1859, ten years after Hokusai's death, Japan reopened to international trade after more than two centuries of seclusion. Prints, books, paintings and decorative arts were exported in large quantities, resulting in an enthusiasm for Japanese art, known as Japonisme. At first Hokusai Manga and One Hundred Views of Mt Fuji were most appreciated. Then people started collecting prints like Thirty-six Views of Mt Fuji. Hokusai’s works inspired European artists such as Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso.

My personal highlights of the exhibition include Kohada Koheiji, from the series One Hundred Ghost Tales, a wonderfully macabre print of a skeleton pulling down a mosquito net at night; and a pair of mesmerizing paintings, Tiger in Rain and Dragon in Rain Clouds done in the last few months of Hokusai’s life when he was 90.

Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave runs from 25 May until 13 August 2017 at the British Museum and is sponsored by Mitsubishi Corporation; britishmuseum.org