Despite the great influence that the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai had on European painters, this is the first time that the Musee Guimet in Paris dedicates a separate exhibition to him. Available through 4 August, 2008.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) is mostly known for two themes that he uses in his "ukiyo-e" works (translated as the "pictures of the floating world"). The first is the pleasures of the city nightlife: banquets, theaters, tea-houses. The second theme includes poetic panoramas, waterfalls, bridges and of course the renowned views of Mount Fuji, a considerable number of which are kept at the Musee Guimet.

The National Museum of Asian Art Guimet exhibits some 120 works that were created by or attributed to Hokusai. Those are his prints (nishiki-e), private editions (surimono), sketches, preparatory drawings (hanshita-e) and paintings (nikuhitsu). Among the highlights of the exhibition is the painting "Dragon in the Clouds" which matches the "Tiger in the Rain" (the latter loaned from the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo).
2008.06.04