(Voice over) : Today’s “Culture Vulture” programme comes from the opening of a new exhibition at the BW Gallery.

Katsushika Hokusai is regarded as one of the greatest artists in Japanese history.  He played a key role in the popularization of the landscape genre through his renowned series of landscape prints: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. These prints depict the mountain from different locations and in various seasons and weather conditions.

Had Katsushika Hokusai died when he was struck by lightning at the age of 50 in 1810, he would be remembered as a popular artist of the ukiyo-e, or “floating world” school of Japanese art, but hardly the great figure we know today. His late blooming was spectacular – it was only in his 70s that he made his most celebrated print series, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, including the famous Great Wave, one of the most reproduced and recognisable images in the world today.

It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats off the coast of the Japanese town of Kanagawa.

That the Great Wave became the best-known print in the west was in large part due to Hokusai’s formative experience of European art.  Prints from early in his career show him attempting to apply the lesson of mathematical perspective, learnt from European prints brought into Japan by Dutch traders.

Growing foreign influence is evident in Hokusai’s masterpiece — the rich shade of blue used in the prints was imported from Europe too. Prussian blue, as it’s commonly known, was a synthetic color created in the 18th century and prized for its depth and durability.  Never before had Prussian Blue been used in Oriental paintings.

Observers famously included French Impressionists Edgar Degas and Claude Monet, as well as Dutch master Vincent van Gogh. “All of my art is, to some extent, influenced by Japan”, wrote Vincent Van Gogh.

In the 1860s, the proliferation of ukiyo-e in Europe led to an artistic fascination with Japan in the West, known as “Japonisme.”

The “Japonisme” exhibition at the BW Gallery runs from June to September.   Rarely have so many pieces been on show outside of Japan.  Not since the gallery’s Impressionist exhibition two years ago have I enjoyed such a well-curated exhibition, so don’t miss it!