Japanese Pavilion at LACMA

On Tuesday afternoon, I roamed through the Japanese Pavilion at LACMA and especially enjoyed the prints by Hokusai.  Katsushika Hokusai lived from 1760 to 1849 and is the Japanese artist best known in the Western world because of his his images known as "The Great Wave" and "Red Fuji."  He was the greatest print maker and painter in Japan between 1800 until his death.  For the prints, artisans carved the many woodblocks, one for each color.

Hokusai created over 50,000 prints and paintings in his lifetime...the best after age 60.  He lived to age 88.  He introduced the painting of landscapes.  He also changed his name more than 30 times, taking on the name "Old Man Mad about Painting" later in life.  He also changed his residences almost 100 times.

In 1833 completed the designs for his most famous work, the "Thirty-six View of Mt. Fuji" and began a new series known as "A Tour of Waterfalls in the Provinces."  In the Shinto religion of Japan, nature gods and spirits inhabit trees, rocks, mountains and waterfalls.  Below are prints from the Mt. Fuji series and 8 of the 10 waterfall prints that he made.  The complete set of 10 was donated to LACMA by Max Palevsky. 

"Story of the Nine tailed Fox," 1807

"A Matching Game with the Genroku Poem Shells," 1821

"South Wind," 1830

"Tago Bay near Ejiri on the Tokaido,"1830-33

"Roben Falls at Mt. Oyama, Sagami Province," 1833-34

"Falls of Ono on the Kisokaido"

"Kannon Shrine at Kiyo Falls, Sakanoshita"

"Falls of Aoigaoka in the Eastern Capital"

"Falls of Kirifuri at Mt. Kurokami, Shimotsuke Province"

"Amida Falls on the Kiso Highway"

"The Yoshitsuru"

"Yoro Falls in Mino Province"

"Mt. Fuji Seen From the Minobu River," 1830-32