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Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence at the MFA Boston
From March 26 to July 23, 2023, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, will host the exhibition “Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence”, featuring more than 90 works by one of the greatest masters of Japanese Art
Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston · Image: Katsushika Hokusai, “Red Fuji” (c.1830–31)
Taking a new approach to the work of the ever-popular Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), this major exhibition explores in detail his impact on other artists—both during his lifetime and beyond. Throughout a career of more than 70 years, Hokusai experimented with a wide range of styles and subjects, producing landscapes such as the instantly recognizable Great Wave and Red Fuji (both about 1830–31), nature studies known as “bird-and-flower pictures,” and depictions of women, heroes, and monsters.
The exhibition brings together over 90 woodblock prints, paintings, and illustrated books by Hokusai with some 170 works by his teachers, students, rivals, and admirers. These unique juxtapositions demonstrate Hokusai’s influence through time and space—seen in works by, among others, his daughter Katsushika Ōi, his contemporaries Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, the 19th-century French Japonistes, and modern and contemporary artists including Loïs Mailou Jones, Yayoi Kusama, John Cederquist and Yoshitomo Nara.
Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence is organized thematically, with sections focused on Hokusai’s teachers and students, surimono (privately commissioned prints), the origins of Japonisme, landscapes, nature studies and depictions of heroes and monsters. The largest section, located at the center of the exhibition, is dedicated to Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave) (1830–31). The print is presented alongside works that riff on or directly cite Hokusai’s iconic image, from John Cederquist’s How to Wrap Five Waves (1994–95) and Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl (1963, Museum of Modern Art, New York) to Andy Warhol’s The Great Wave (After Hokusai) (1980–87, The Andy Warhol Museum) and a Lego recreation (2021) by certified master builder Jumpei Mitsui.
“The MFA is home to one of the largest and most significant collections of Hokusai’s works in the world, making us uniquely positioned to tell the story of his enduring appeal and his impact on other artists,” said Sarah E. Thompson, Curator of Japanese Art. “We hope visitors enjoy this new look at the legacy of the ever-popular painter, book illustrator and print designer.”
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By Barbara Smits | Opinion
It seems that the modern art world wants the artist to be restricted to the haul and carry, booth setup, travel, out of town hotel expenses, adverse weather, damage to artwork, and watch the crowds meander by art show circuit rather than using local art for interior decorating or serious art show displays in art centers or galleries. Communities like art shows that draw crowds and money into their area, and seem determined to keep the art show circuit working to their own advantage.
What’s wrong with using local art for decorating that represents our community or state? I have tried for many years to get interior decorators and designers, hotel builders, local art galleries, etc., to purchase and display my artwork, but they will not do so. I do have my prints for sale in local retail shops, and people do like and purchase my artwork, and I have placed high in online art contests, but I have given up trying to break into the larger markets that seem to be dominated only by money and huge discounts for interior decorators or art dealers who purchase artwork. I have sold through interior decorators in the past, but that is not the case today.
Shouldn’t ALL types of art be given a chance to be seen and appreciated? Artists today are in the same situation as artists in the past when new forms of art began to take over the old ways of doing things, but meeting with great resistance from the art world establishment.
As an artist, I am motivated by deeper thoughts than producing an artwork of appropriate, matching colors to hang on a wall and then never look at it again for the next fifty years. There is nothing wrong with abstract art, and many people like it, but I am not motivated to produce it, and I should also have a chance to do my kind of art.
I am a photographer and writer, and I produce many different types of artwork. Some photographs I sell as straight images, others I manipulate with digital artistic software to create artworks, and on some I like to add text that includes my poetry or thoughts. I also like to produce motivational and inspirational works which seem to be taboo to many people in today’s world! In any case, my end product is a print, either a photograph or a print made on a printer, so it can be reproduced in larger numbers. That type of artwork doesn’t seem to be appreciated as a work of art, just as a cheap print that anyone can produce with an iPhone in today’s world.
Our community is building a new cultural center that will open this summer, and they advertise and brag about bringing in displays and art shows from outside of the area to attract crowds, and they offer no opportunity for local artists to show there. It is really a slap in the face to local artists who might have something worthwhile to show, and visitors to the city might really enjoy seeing local artworks that portray the history of the community or other areas of interest, including statewide images.
The modern art world needs to change. Art galleries need to change. Arts organizations need to change. Art should be available for everyone to enjoy, not only for the rich to purchase it for investment purposes and then hide it away in private galleries to let it grow in value. Art should have something to say and be created for beauty, inspiration, and motivation, not just for money. Yes, we all like to make money from our work and be rewarded for our time and effort, but the artist should not just be motivated by money and following popular trends that sell. We are not helping the world by following that criteria for creating artworks; and I’m sorry to say that the world needs much help today.
I don’t think that change in the art world will happen in my lifetime, but we are in the modern age of technology, and perhaps change will come about in the coming years as people realize that we need art to help us understand the world, not just add color to a room!
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