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Author Topic: Hokusai's art exhibit in Honolulu Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-27-2009 02:12 PM                        I do not know how many of you are interested in Japanese woodblock prints known as ukiyo-e but if you are and find yourself in Honolulu between now and January 3, 2010, you will have the opportunity to see the finest collection in the world by Katsushika Hokusai. In addition to Hokasai's work, the exhibit will feature some prints by his younger contemporary, Utagawa Hiroshige as well as European art that has influenced the printmakers.In addition to the famous "Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji" there are ten more the artist created of the sacred mountain. included in the Fuji collection is probably his most famous piece "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" showing a series of waves framing Mount Fuji in the distance. All of the images are part of over six thousands prints that are part of the Honolulu Academy of Art's permanent collection considered the largest and finest in the world. All of the images were donated to the Academy by the late author James Michener shortly after he published his famous novel HAWAII. The exhibit will be at the Acedemy located in the heart of Honolulu across from the Blaisdell Concert Hall. If you would like to read the article in this morning's Honolulu Advertiser about the exhibit and see illustration of some of the work of Hokusai that will be exhibited, here is the link to it--- http://honoluluadvertiser.com When you are at the site, type ARTS in the search box and when you get to the page, the article is titled BIG WAVE. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-27-2009 04:05 PM                     Yeah, I'd really like to see that exhibit. Unfortunately I have no plans of going to Hawaii any time soon. Perhaps sometime in the future one of the art museums in Dallas, Fort Worth or Oklahoma City may put on a similar show. I've enjoyed looking at Japanese wood block print art ever since my childhood days living in Iwakuni, Japan. The country's unique historic architecture, clothing, battle armor, weapons, lettering and graphic design all have a look of their own that has greatly influenced many visual artists, fashion designers and even filmmakers like George Lucas. Darth Vader's helmet has more than a passing resemblance to a Japanese battle helmet. Beneath the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as "The Wave") is arguably the most iconic image that comes up to visually describe historic Japanese culture. The image was created in 1830. Hokusai lived from 1760 to 1849. The foam at the tops of the waves give off the feeling of sinister hands reaching out to drown the boats down below. A book I have about Japanese graphic art talks about how The Wave had particular influence on French artists in the late 1800s such as Degas and Toulouse Lautrec.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-27-2009 04:51 PM                        Wish I could go. In a previous, more financially secure life, I acquired a few prints from the 1800's. Have to settle for books these days;>  |  IP: Logged Karl Borowski Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sulking in GameFAQ Forum Registered: Sep 2009 posted 09-27-2009 04:58 PM                     One tough thing about being on an island, especially in cyberspace Claude, is the geographical isolation. Then again, Hawai'i is certainly a step above a lot of the other geographically-isolated locales I can think of.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-27-2009 05:54 PM                        One of the favorite past time during the later part of the Edo period was collecting Ukiyo-e. Like baseball cards today, one could buy prints of favorite Kabuki actors at the time and collect them. Hokusai's prints were kind of like picture postcards and they were very popular I saw a very nice collection at the Kyoto museum when I was there in 1983 and enjoyed the exhibit. I hope to see the Honolulu exhibit next week and I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-27-2009 09:23 PM                        I would love to see that exhibition myself, but alas no money or airline pass privileges to do that sort of thing anymore. I did fly up to SFO twice within a two-week period during the summer of 2007 just to see an exhibition of Osamu Tezuka's original manga and animation drawings at the Asian Art Museum (Dr. Tezuka was the post-war father of both manga and anime). Definitely fun when one can afford to travel like that! Nowadays even my Japanese movie poster collection is on hold, and may be up for sale shortly (didn't think I'd go this long without work when I left the airline last May). At least I got to exhibit 62 pieces from the collection one last time over the Labor Day weekend at Cashman Center for Anime Vegas 09.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-27-2009 09:50 PM                        Paul, I think we are all hurting big time with the poor economy. My photography business is not what it used to be and I had to drastically cut back on non essential spending. We just got to consider ourselves very fortunate we still enjoy good health and our loving families. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-28-2009 03:33 PM                        Carl, I lived all of my life in Hawaii except for the two and a half years I spent in Santa Barbara, California studying photography at Brooks Institute. Many who have not lived here would think Hawaii like any island is very isolated but that is not true especially Honolulu. The last time I checked, Honolulu was listed as the 11th largest city in the United States with a lot of excellent features. First of all, the American military is strategically located here with basis at Pearl Harbor, Kaneohe, Schofield, Hickam and Fort Shafter We have excellent medical services, a fantastic symphony orchestra and a excellent opera company. The Vienna Phiharmonic with Herbert Von Karajan and The New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein came to Honolulu and I was there. I was also in the audience when Aaron Copeland, Aram Katcheturion, Igor Stranvinsky , Van Cliburn and many other famous artists performed with the HSO and I was there. Honolulu gets almost all of the national touring productions of Broadway shows as well as excellent local production. Shochiku's Grand Kabuki company from Japan came to Honolulu twice and I was there. We also get a lot of touring rock band concerts but I was not there. The most famous concert was Elvis Presley's that was beamed around the world on television in 1973. We have excellent museums with great exhibits like the Hokusai show I had discussed yesterday. We have a fine university with a fantastic football team that went to the Sugar Bowl two years ago. Honolulu's transportation system is one of the best in the country and was voted "best in the country" two years in a row a couple of years ago. Honolulu is scheduled to get a light rail transportation network and should be fully operational by 2018. We have three great shopping malls with store outlets of all of the great retailers, both national and international. We also have almost all of the stand alone retail stores like Best Buy, Target, Costco, Sams Club, Lowes, Borders Books, Walmart and a few others Our movie theatres are first rate with some featuring both Dolby 3-D as well as Real D. One also offer films in Digital 3-D IMAX. There is also a regular IMAX theatre at a theme park on the north shore of Oahu. As you can see, I am very happy living here because almost everything offered on the mainland is available here. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 10-07-2009 08:04 PM                        I made time today and went to the Honolulu academy of Arts to see the exhibit of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). I do not know what made me to decide to go today but was pleasantly surprised that I went on the day that is free to the public - first Wednesday of the Month. I still paid by donating the $5.00 senior admission to the museum. The exhibit was very extensive and the visitors guide I received when I entered to exhibit gallery said the current show is the largest in a decade and many prints have not been shown for a very long From all of the prints I saw, the passage of time had taken a tremendous toll on the images, From what I assume, the color of the prints must have been very vibrant when they were first struck about two hundred years ago but they all looked very muted with extremely subdued color. I was awe struck when I viewed two of the famous pieces in the exhibit, THE GREAT WAVE OF KANAGAWA and MOUNT FUJI IN CLEAR WEATHER (Red Fuji) and spent more time admiring them than the others in the exhibit. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-07-2009 11:28 PM                     quote: Claude S. Ayakawa The last time I checked, Honolulu was listed as the 11th largest city in the United States with a lot of excellent features. Hmm. According to the US Census 2008 estimates, Honolulu has 374,676 people living within its city limits. That number places Honolulu as the 49th largest city in the United States. Going by metropolitan statistical area ranks, Honolulu ranks 55th with 905,034 people living in its greater metropolitan area. Detroit currently ranks 11th in terms of city population with 912,062. Detroit also ranks 11th in metro population with 4,425,110. I thought it was kind of interesting Texas has 3 cities in the top 10 for US city population. San Antonio now has more residents within its city limits than Dallas. 1,351,305 versus 1,279,910. However, metro Dallas-Fort Worth is now the 4th largest metro area in the United States with 6.3 million people. That's more than the 5.7 million who live in the Houston metro area.  |  IP: Logged

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