The Art of Hokusai, reproduced from the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution

Thirteen hand-painted works by Katsushika Hokusai owned by the Freer Gallery of Art presented at the Sumida Hokusai Museum

The Tsuzuri Project: The Art of Hokusai, reproduced from the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution” was held at Sumida Hokusai Museum in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, from June 25 (Tue) to August 25 (Sun), 2019.

The works at the Freer Gallery of Art (Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C.), renowned for its superb collection of Japanese art, cannot be seen unless you visit the museum due to the policy of not permitting its holdings from leaving the museum.
Thirteen works carefully selected from the Freer Gallery of Art collection of hand-painted works by Hokusai (the world’s largest collection of its kind) came back to Japan as high resolution facsimiles. In this exhibition, these works were displayed alongside the approximately 130 related works owned by the Sumida Hokusai Museum.

At the venue, the works were spread out on tatami mats just like the time when these works were painted. Visitors were able to fully take in the exhibition unveiling the essence of Hokusai’s art by getting to see the high resolution facsimiles without glass cases and comparing the different expressions of waves between his hand-painted work “Breaking Waves” and a woodblock print “Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.”

The exhibition also held other events, such as a lecture by Dr. Frank Feltens, a Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art of the Freer Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, as well as workshops.