Art Of The Day Weekly
#357 - from 25 September 2014 to 1 October 2014
Hokusai, Telescope, from the series « Seven Fashionable Bad Habits», 1801-1804, 36,5x25,4 cm, private collection © Galerie Sebastian Izzard LLC
Hokusai, the king of manga
PARIS - Hokusai (1760-1849) seems to come to us from the mists of history. But if we associate his name with a word that is very much in the air, “manga”, he seems perfectly contemporary. The author of the famous Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji, a definite influence on the Japanese current in Europe (in particular via Van Gogh and glass artist Emile Gallé), spent indeed his life filling out his sketch books. These fifteen volumes, rich with thousands of didactic drawings, contain portraits of artisans and fighters, animals and vegetables on the forefront, and numerous landscapes of mountains and water which nourished all of his work. Aside from these founding works, his abundant production is represented in the exhibition by some 500 pieces – drawings, prints and paintings.
• Hokusai, at the Grand Palais, from 1 October 2014 to 18 January 2015.