Hokusai: Mad About Painting
Spring 2020
For the Art of Asia Course at Arizona State University
Upon entering the first of four gallery rooms for the exhibit, one is immediately taken aback. Many would at first recognize woodblock prints, since that is what Katsushika Hokusai is known for. Instead, the long room contains three sets of six-panel screens and one two-panel screen. These paintings are depictions of the daily lives of people portrayed in the same style that we would recognize as Hokusai’s. One of the sets of six-panel screens is actually by Hishikawa Moronobu, which is used as a comparison with another set of six-panel screens by Hokusai to the left.
While crossing into the next gallery room, the hallway features the main title and description of the overall exhibit. The hallway also includes the eight periods of Hokusai’s life where he changed his name (rebranded himself) five times from Shunro, Sori, Hokusai, Taito, Litsu (two periods of his life), and finally Manji.
The second gallery room contains single-sheet woodblock prints, mainly without color. The line work on these prints varies from thicker areas, to very fine lines. It is understandable when viewing these prints, how many illustrators reference Hokusai’s line work in his prints. The lines not only shape the subjects and backgrounds, but also define the many details in each work.
The third gallery room is by far my favorite of the rooms, as it contains a variety of works from a large selection of mangas and paintings (on hanging scrolls, fans, and hand scrolls). The main hand scroll in the center of the room is actually unfinished and we can see the lines, and color applications created. The process of painting a hand scroll is very evident in this work by Hokusai.
The many mangas in this room are all open to one spread, featuring a few of the many illustrations he comprised over the years. What makes this section of the room more interesting is the interactive touch-screen that allows the viewer to go through all of the pages of each of the mangas in the case to its right. It is incredible to see the line work, muted colors (in my opinion and compared to his paintings), and subject matters that he created in his mangas.
The final gallery room, much like the third gallery room, contains a variety of work from hanging scrolls, single-sheet prints, sketches, hand scrolls, and a few mangas. All the works in this room, however, are from his later years depicting mythical creatures (dragons, etc.) and some human sketches. These works show the height of his painting prowess as he comes to the end of his life. Along with the paintings, sketches, and prints in this room, there is also something Hokusai wrote in his postscript to Fugaku hyakkei, which was published in 1834 at age 75:
Overall the exhibit contains works spanning Katsushika Hokusai’s life in the many varieties of media he explored. From woodblock prints to hanging scrolls, one can see the evolution and expansion of his works, subject matters, and media. However, much of his figures seem to have a similar, slightly distorted form and depiction. Hokusai: Mad About Painting is a great exhibit, which shows the variety of works that Hokusai created throughout his life beyond the well-known Views of Mount Fuji series.
