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HOKUSAI

  • Image of "Great Wave off Kanagawa, The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Detail) The Metropolitan Museum of Art"

    Great Wave off Kanagawa, The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Detail)
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Japanese Archaeology and Special Exhibition (Heiseikan) Special Exhibition Galleries
    October 25, 2005 (Tue) - December 4, 2005 (Sun)

    This exhibition features approximately 500 works of Katsushika Hokusai, introducing his 70-year career in six chronological parts.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936 (JP2569) Photograph
    © 1994 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 General Information
Period Tuesday, October 25 - Sunday, December 4, 2005
Venue Heiseikan, Tokyo National Museum (Ueno Park)
Hours 9:30 am. - 5:00 pm.
Fridays until 8:00 pm
(last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed Mondays
Admissions
  Single ticket Set of 2 tickets * Advance ticket Set of 2 Advance Tickets Group *
Adults 1,500yen   2,600yen   1,200yen   2,300 yen 1,100yen  
University Students 1,000yen   1,700yen   800yen   1,500 yen 700yen  
High School Students 600yen   900yen   400yen   700 yen 300yen  
* Junior high-school students and under admission free
* A set of 2 tickets can be used for admission twice by one individual or admission once for two individuals.
* Group : 20 or more individuals
* Disabled persons are allowed free entry with one companion. Valid identification requested upon entry.
 Same-day discount for the special exhibitions "Splendid and Refined: Imari Ware and Kyoto Ware Ceramics" and "HOKUSAI"
A 100-yen discount applies for either of the special exhibitions when both are visited on the same day. The admission ticket for the first exhibition visited on the day must be shown upon purchase of the ticket to the second exhibition.
Advance sales From August 29, 2005 at E-Ticket Pia, Lawson Ticket, CN Playguide, JR East Reservation Ticket Office(Midori-no-madoguchi) and View Plaza at major stations, Circle-K, Sankus, JTB, E-Plus.
Access 10 minutes' walk from JR Ueno Station (Park exit) and Uguisudani Station
15 minutes walk from Keisei Ueno Station and Tokyo Metro Ueno Station and Nezu Station
Organizers Tokyo National Museum, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.
Special Collaboration Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
With the Assistance of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan / Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan / Embassy of the United States in Japan
With the Sponsorship of Astellas Pharma Inc. / ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS CO.,LTD. / TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION / Fuji Xerox Co.,Ltd. / Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.,Ltd. / Mitsubishi Corporation
General Inquiries +81-3-3822-1111
Exhibition Homepage http://www.hokusaiten.jp/
The website has closed with the end of the exhibition.
 Related lecture (In Japanese)
  Commemorative lecture
Life and Art of Hokusai
by Nagata Seiji (Vice Director and Curator in Chief, Ota Memorial Museum of Art)
Auditorium, Heiseikan
Saturday, November 12, 2005 at 13:30 - 15:00
  Other Exhibitions
Splendid and Refined: Imari Ware and Kyoto Ware Ceramics
Hyokeikan, Tuesday, Octber 4 - Sunday, December 4, 2005
  Next Venue
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Saturday, March 4 - Sunday, May 14, 2006
 About the Exhibition  
Period 1: Shunro Period (from age 20)
 
Hokusai's Artistic Debut
The Actor Segawa Kikunojo III as the Daughter of Masamune
  The Actor Segawa Kikunojo III as the Daughter of Masamune
dated in 1779
Print (hosoban)
Tokyo National Museum

Hokusai's debut work. The signature of Katsukawa Shunro can be seen on this hosoban format actor print dated to the 8th month of An'ei 8 (1779).
Period 2: Sori Period (ca. from age 36)
 
Hokusai, Praised for his Sori Style
Low-class Prostitute
  Low-class Prostitute
Painting, color on paper
Hosomi Art Museum

This is a major example of Hokusai's Sori style painting, with its immediate depiction of a low-class prostitute drawn deftly in ink, indigo, and red ochre.
Period 3: Katsushika Hokusai Period (ca. from Age 46)
 
Hokusai becomes the premier book illustrator of the day.
Beauty Being Inebriated
  Beauty Being Inebriated
Painting, color on silk
Ujiie Ukiyoe Collection

A geisha, drunk and sleeping on her shamisen box. This beautifully rendered image of a lovely woman was created from sublime brushwork and brilliant palette work.
Gathering Shellfish at Ebb-tide
  Gathering Shellfish at Ebb-tide
Painting, color on silk
Osaka City Art Museum
(Important Cultural Property, On Exhibit October 25 - November 6, 2005)

This landscape painting by Hokusai reveals his mastery of a broad range of Japanese and Western depictive methods.
Period 4: Taito Period (ca. from Age 51)
 
The birth of the Hokusai Manga encyclopedic illustrated works. A period of illustrated manuals.
From Denshin Kaishu Hokusai Manga, Vol.10
  From Denshin Kaishu Hokusai Manga, Vol.10
Print, book
Uragami Collection
(Pages change on November 7 and 21, 2005)

Hokusai's sketchbook full of innovative drawings. These manuals also became study books for Western painters intrigued by his works.
Period 5: Iitsu Period (ca. from Age 61)
 
The birth of Hokusai's masterpiece, the Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji series. Continuing production of prints filled with landscapes, birds and flowers, classical literature, and comic imagery.
Great Wave off Kanagawa, The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (C) Photo RMN / Thierry Ollivier / distributed by Sekai Bunka Photo
  A Mild Breeze on a Fine Day, The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Print (yoko oban)
Musee national des Arts Asiatiques Guimet

Red-dyed Mt. Fuji rises over a sea of white clouds that contrast with the blue sky above.
Great Wave off Kanagawa, The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936 (JP2569)
Photograph (C)1994 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  Great Wave off Kanagawa, The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Print (yoko oban)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(On Exhibit October 25 - November 13, 2005)

The composer Debussy and the Impressionist painters were just some of the artists worldwide who have been greatly moved by this work. The wildly tossing wave drags viewers into the middle of the scene.
Pheasant and Snake
  Pheasant and Snake
Print (dansen-e ban)
Tokyo National Museum
(Important Art Object, On Exhibit October 25 - November 13, 2005)
Sara-yashiki
  Sara-yashiki (Mansion of Dishes), A Hundred Haunting Tales
Print (chuban)
Tokyo National Museum
Period 6: Gakyo Rojin Manji Period (ca. from Age 75)
 
The unquenchable creative powers of the painter in his final years.
Brush Painting Manual: Hawk
  Brush Painting Manual: Hawk
Painting (color on paper)
Katsushika Hokusai Museum
(Pages change on November 7, 2005)

This album contains 10 paintings by Hokusai. Each work is drawn in delicate line and subtle colors.
Self-portrait at the Age of Eighty-three
  Self-portrait at the Age of Eighty-three
Painting (ink on paper)
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden

This self-portrait created when Hokusai was 83 years old was drawn on a letter written by Hokusai.
Exhibitions