36 Partial Views of Hokusai

Went to see the huge Hokusai exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum (Ueno) last Saturday, and it’s well worth seeing. However, do yourself a favor and don’t even contemplate going on a weekend (like I stupidly did) or holiday, unless you have some perverted desire to feel what cattle feel like being herded from one place to the next. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to queue at a museum, not on the outside, mind you (although we did have to do that, but only for about 10 minutes or so — a far cry from the 2 hours I once waited to get into the Uffizi, I seem to recall) but on the inside, as I entered each exhibition space or set of prints!

I felt thankful I had a height advantage and I could’ve viewed the entire exhibit that way, but the person I was with did not and so we dutifully queued up and slowly trudged our way through each gallery. My feet shuffling skills certainly improved over the course of the afternoon. One thing I noticed was that at the beginning of each series, there would be a queue or confused crush, but as one proceeded further down the wall/series, the crowd would soon thin out. So with some perserverence, it was possible to steal 5 or 10 seconds uninterrupted in front of a print, without feeling the immediate pressure to start shuffling again.

If I could do it all over again (with only 3 weeks remaining I can’t), not only would I go on a weekday but I would forego the heavy hitters of the show, namely the prints from the 36 Views of Mt. Fuji series (the exhibition was not surprisingly at its most gridlocked here, all roads leading to the wave), and go straight to the last galleries, which feature Hokusai’s work from the last 10 years or so of his life. Some unbelievably beautiful work here, work I had never seen before. This was his “Manji” period (overview with woefully inadequate samples at link), and it’s hard to fathom to creativity and artistry evidenced by someone in his 80’s (his last known work, done at age 89 or 90, depending on how you count it, is on view). Particularly striking were his Brush Painting Manual series of 10 paintings, so vivid they look like they were created yesterday (extremely tiny sample at the bottom of this page), and one particular painting on a scroll, the title of which escapes me, but which depicted a woman with a Mona Lisa smile on her face, her child behind her, and about 8 rice farmers in the background, all their heads face down in so that all you can see are shiny silver-ish discs representing their hats. Sublime!