Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence

Katsushika Hokusai, Fine Wind, Clear Weather (Gaifū kaisei), also known as Red Fuji, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei), ca. 1830–31, woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and colour on paper. Nellie Parney Carter Collection—Bequest of Nellie Parney Carter.

Thanks to the popularity of works like the instantly recognizable Great Wave—cited everywhere from book covers and Lego sets to anime and emoji—Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) has become one of the most famous and influential artists of all time. Taking a new approach to this endlessly inventive and versatile Japanese artist, Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence explores his impact both during his lifetime and beyond. More than 100 woodblock prints, paintings, and illustrated books by Hokusai are on view alongside about 200 works by his teachers, students, rivals, and admirers, creating juxtapositions that demonstrate his influence through time and space.

Visitors can see Hokusai’s legacy in works by, among others, his daughter Katsushika Ōi, his contemporaries Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 19th-century American and European painters, and modern and contemporary artists including Loïs Mailou Jones and Yoshitomo Nara. In the exhibition’s largest section, dedicated to Under the Wave off Kanagawa (the Great Wave) (about 1830–31), Hokusai’s print appears with works that riff on or directly cite the iconic image, including John Cederquist’s How to Wrap Five Waves (1994–95), Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl (1963), Andy Warhol’s The Great Wave (After Hokusai) (1980–87), and even a Lego recreation (2021) by Lego certified professional Jumpei Mitsui. The sweeping range of work shows Hokusai’s ubiquity and enduring appeal, which shows no sign of fading anytime soon.