Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) is one of the most important creators of Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo period (1603–1868). His works depict a world captured in motion and constant change, characteristic of the aesthetics of ukiyo-e (literally “pictures of the floating world”).

The monographic exhibition devoted to the work of Katsushika Hokusai, prepared by the National Museum in Kraków and presented at Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome, showcases the artist’s achievements within the broad cultural context of Edo-period Japan. The exhibition features Hokusai’s works alongside selected objects of Japanese artistic craftsmanship associated with everyday life of the time, forming a cohesive narrative based entirely on the National Museum in Kraków’s own collection.

Katsushika Hokusai was an extraordinarily versatile artist who continuously developed his artistic language throughout his life, seeking new formal solutions. His oeuvre includes extensive landscape series, depictions of nature, compositions inspired by history and literature, occasional prints, as well as pattern books and sketchbooks. He was among the first Japanese artists whose work gained widespread recognition outside Japan and had a significant impact on 19th-century European art. To this day, he remains an important reference point for popular culture, among others thanks to his series of albums “Hokusai Manga,” which played a key role in the emergence and development of modern Japanese comics. The exhibition presents nearly 200 of his works, including both woodblock prints and illustrated albums.

The presentation of the exhibition in Rome coincides with the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Italy, placing the Polish collection within this special context. The exhibition scenario was developed by Beata Romanowicz, a Polish curator and head of the Far Eastern Art Department at the National Museum in Kraków, who designed it specifically for the space of Palazzo Bonaparte, taking into account the character of its interiors and decorative elements, including a sculpture by Antonio Canova (1757–1822), one of the most outstanding representatives of European Neoclassicism, whose work developed parallel to that of Hokusai.

The starting point for the exhibition narrative is formed by the statements of Feliks “Manggha” Jasieński—a collector whose donation in 1920 played a key role in the development of the Japanese collections of the National Museum in Kraków. His reflections accompany successive sections of the exhibition, guiding the viewer through various aspects of Hokusai’s work—from representations related to the Tōkaidō route, the most important communication route of Edo-period Japan, to the motif of nature and the elements present in the series “A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces” and “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji,” which includes the artist’s most recognizable compositions, such as “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” and “Fine Wind, Clear Morning.”

Subsequent sections of the exhibition present other areas of Hokusai’s work—series inspired by literature and poetry, including “One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets as Told by a Nurse.” Alongside these are collections of surimono—occasional prints of high artistic and technical quality, created on commission and distinguished by exceptional attention to form. An important part of the exhibition is also devoted to Hokusai’s sketchbooks and pattern books, represented, among others, by the “Hokusai Manga” series. The whole is complemented by fantastic representations—ghosts and spirits—depicting the supernatural world present in the artist’s work.

This narrative is further enriched by examples of Japanese artistic craftsmanship presented in the exhibition—around 150 objects that help situate Hokusai’s work within the material culture of the Edo period. These include lacquerware, such as inrō cases, as well as cups and combs. They are accompanied by elements of weaponry and sword fittings, demonstrating the mastery of Japanese metallurgy and craftsmanship. A separate section is devoted to textiles, including kimono of varying levels of formality, obi sashes, haori jackets, and furoshiki wrapping cloths. The display is complemented by ceramic objects and bronze casts inspired by the natural world.

The juxtaposition of woodblock prints and craft objects allows Hokusai’s work to be presented from a broader perspective, while also introducing the history of collecting Japanese art at the National Museum in Kraków. The exhibition includes carefully selected objects from different stages of the collection’s formation—from the earliest donations, including two vases decorated with scenes of silk production donated in 1892 by Wiktor Osławski, a patriot and the first donor of the museum’s Far Eastern collection, to more recent acquisitions, such as the donation of woodblock prints given to the museum by Dr. Jens Wiebel in 2018.

The exhibition is accompanied by an Italian-language catalogue authored by Beata Romanowicz, containing essays and entries on the woodblock prints and selected craft objects presented in the exhibition.

Curator: Beata Romanowicz