8 ASIAN ART People


THE BRITISH MUSEUM: TIM CLARK T


By Xenobe Purvis


im Clark is head of the Japanese section in the Department of Asia at the


British Museum and curator of Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave, the exhibition of Hokusai’s later works currently on display there. In the following interview, Dr Clark answers our questions about the art Hokusai created later in life, the influence of European and Chinese art on the artist’s work, his personal beliefs – and, of course, Hokusai’s iconic Great Wave.


ASIAN ART NEWSPAPER: Tis exhibition sees many of Hokusai’s works reunited for the first time. From which institutions have they been borrowed? How far have they travelled? Tim Clark: Te works on show are extraordinarily varied, with objects drawn from the British Museum’s superb collection and many loans from Japan, Europe and the United States. In fact, 21 of the lenders are from Japan.


AAN: Will the exhibition be displayed thematically or chronologically? TC: Te exhibition will adopt a new approach to explore Hokusai’s later career in thematic as well as chronological terms. Te structure presents thematic groupings of works that are related to major spiritual and artistic quests of Hokusai’s life. Te show culminates with a room of sublime paintings done when Hokusai was 88, 89 and 90, when he was exclusively using the painting seal ‘Hundred’.


AAN: Can you describe some of the highlights of the exhibition? TC: Tere many important works in the exhibition. Some highlights include the iconic Great Wave print and a magnificent hanging scroll Shoki (Zhong Kui) the demon-queller, painted in red loaned from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. It was believed that Shoki could protect your home against the scourge of smallpox. Te exhibition will also feature two magnificent painted ceiling panels of wave subjects loaned by Kanmachi Neighbourhood Council, Obuse, done in 1845 for a festival cart in the town.


AAN: Will some of Hokusai’s more unconventional works be exhibited? I am thinking particularly of his toys and board games. TC: No toys or board games are on show, but the exhibition does include designs for craftspeople, such as a tiny coloured drawing of the twelve Zodiac animals huddled together – intended as a guide for a carver of netsuke (toggles).


AAN: Have you encountered any issues of authenticity in your decision as to what to include in the exhibition? TC: Carefully considering the authenticity of works is an important part of the curatorial process in deciding what to include in an exhibition. Hokusai lived with his daughter Eijo (art name Oi, circa 1800-1866), herself an accomplished artist. In his old age Hokusai became


more dependent on Oi to prepare final drawings for block cutters and to assist with paintings. Tere is debate about how much of Hokusai’s later work came from the hand of Oi. Te question is open as to whether we will ever be able to separate Oi’s hand from Hokusai’s with any degree of certainty. Several works with Oi’s own signature are included in the show.


AAN: Why did you decide to focus on the work Hokusai created later in life? TC: During the later period of Hokusai’s life, pursuing his art became an all-consuming spiritual conviction – a quest for immortality, even. He believed that the older he got, the greater he would become as an artist. Our exhibition agrees with that assessment. To quote Hokusai: ‘From the age of six I had a penchant for copying the form of things, and from about 50, my pictures were frequently published; but until the age of 70, nothing I drew was worthy of notice. At 73 years, I was somewhat able to fathom the growth of plant and trees, and the structure of birds, animals, insects and fish. Tus when I reach 80 years, I hope to have made increasing progress, and at 90 to see further into the underlying principles of things, so that at 100 years I will have achieved a divine state in my art, and at 110, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive. Tose of you who live long enough, bear witness that these words of mine are not false’ . (translated by Henry D Smith II). He lived until he was 90.


AAN: So his work really did improve as he got older? TC: From his 88th year until his death at age 90, Hokusai’s extraordinary last painted works show that the artist had indeed reached a sublime realm in his beliefs and art. Hokusai’s technique is staggering in some of the later work such as Dragon in Rain Clouds (1849, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris).


Under the wave off Kanagawa (Te Great Wave) from the series Tirty-six views of Mt Fuji, colour woodblock, 1831. Acquisition supported by the Art Fund © Te Trustees of the British Museum. On display from 25 May to 13 August


sense, self-portraits of Hokusai wanting to communicate with us.


influenced by the art of China


Hokusai was profoundly


AAN: ‘Hokusai’ has become a kind of shorthand for the many identities and artistic styles he inhabited. Can you describe the man – and artist – he was towards the end of his life? TC: Te exhibition also looks at the personal life of Hokusai. In the late 1820s Hokusai suffered many personal challenges, including the death of his wife, illness, and financial woes caused by an errant grandson. His daughter Eijo, herself an accomplished artist, quit an unsuccessful marriage to return and care for her aged father, and to work with and alongside him. Hokusai also frequently moved house – by one account no less than 93 times in his life. However, he fervently believed that his skills as an artist would continue to improve the older he got.


Shoki painted in red, hanging scroll, ink and red pigment on silk, 1846. Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Mrs Charles Stewart Smith. On display from 25 May to 13 August


ASIAN ART SUMMER QUARTER 2017


AAN: Hokusai is, perhaps, most famous for his views of Mt Fuji. Tese are widely-known views, of course, which many artists have attempted to depict – but how much of his personal experience is touched on in his work? Were they subjects unique to him? TC: Hokusai’s personal faith influenced his work. Hokusai was a member of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism. Many other powerful spiritual talismans were subjects for his later works, vehicles for expressing this unique mix of personal beliefs. Tese included not only powerful mythical beings such as Shoki, the demon-queller, but also proud solitary animals, birds and mythical creatures – cormorants and eagles, tigers and dragons, Chinese lions and phoenixes. Tey are all, in a


AAN: What distinguishes the British Museum’s impression of Te Great Wave from others? TC: Te British Museum’s impression is a fresh early one, with sharply printed lines and well-fitting colours. On present evidence it is likely that this is one of the top 20 impressions to have survived. Te clever composition epitomises Hokusai’s wit and ingenuity as an artist, in addition to the sheer graphic power of the image.


AAN: Do you feel the astonishing popularity of ‘Te Great Wave’ has hindered Hokusai’s reputation in some way? Te exhibition’s title, ‘Beyond the Great Wave’, seems to suggest a weariness with the subject, and a desire to look further. TC: Te exhibition is structured so that we first enjoy Te Great Wave and explore with our visitors the genesis of this iconic work – Hokusai’s interest in wave imagery; the spiritual significance of Mt Fuji; and his study of European-style art. We then invite visitors to continue on a shared journey into Hokusai’s deep old age, engaging with the inspiring prints and paintings of his last decades. Many world famous artists are associated with an iconic piece; examples of similar iconic works include Leonardo’s Mona Lisa (1503) and Edvard Munch’s Te Scream (1893). Te popularity of Te Great Wave does not hinder the artistic reputation of Hokusai, rather it is a testament to his skills as an artist that the piece has had such a remarkable influence on art and in pop culture. It even has its own emoji.


AAN: Degas, Monet and other Impressionists were influenced by Hokusai’s work. But what was Hokusai’s relationship with European art while he was living? Where had he encountered European art before? TC: From his twenties onwards, Hokusai adopted elements of


European-style art that were crucial to the development of his own works – most importantly a sense of deep perspective, as epitomized by Te Great Wave. In about 1822-1826, Hokusai was commissioned by merchants of the Dutch East India Company to produce a set of paintings of scenes of Japanese life. On show in the exhibition will be a rare group of these paintings from the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, done in Hokusai’s unique European-influenced style.


AAN: Can we see the influence of any other cultural disciplines at work in his style? Art created in China, for instance? TC: Hokusai was profoundly influenced by the art of China, in terms of subject matter and style. Te exhibition includes his amazing large print imagining of a view of the whole of China seen from space. Many of the warrior and literary subjects of his paintings and prints are derived from ancient and classical China. Recent research has shown how some of Hokusai’s landscape paintings are influenced in their compositions and technique by Chinese paintings of the late Ming and early Qing periods.


AAN: What do you hope visitors will take away from the exhibition? TC: Tis exhibition is a rare opportunity for visitors to see many of these later works by Hokusai, particularly his paintings. Many have never been on display before in UK, and some pieces cannot be on show for long periods of time due to their light sensitivity. We would like visitors to have an intimate and moving experience of these sublime works of art and understand more about Hokusai’s art and personal life in his old age. • Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave, runs until 13 August (closed 3-6 July for rotation of prints) at the British Museum, London. • Catalogue available • For connected events, visit www.britishmuseum.org


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