Hokusai "The Great Wave off Kanagawa Coast" on display in Venice

今度英語で更新を書くことにします！皆分かるでしょう

a special exhibition for a special masterpiece, the Great Wave off Kanagawa Coast by Katsushika Hokusai (the original print from the collection of the Oriental Museum Chiossone of Genoa, Italy) is currently on display in Venice, at the Oriental Museum at Ca' Pesaro.

The exhibition opened on Sunday 8 September and will continue until November 3rd.

Unfortunately, no photographs allowed! I just took a picture of the poster at the entrance, but I still have the images I took two years ago, when Vittorio Sgarbi, the art critic, was superintendent of Venice State Museums and "lifted the ban" on photographs! Too bad, that day I had with me only the mobile phone and not a proper camera.

Besides the Great Wave, the museum is worth a visit and other works by Hokusai are on display for the exhibition, a series of his manga (the museum collection is impressive) and some other amazing works, see the tiger at the bottom (the image is from the Museum website). It reminded me of the Old Tiger in the Snow I saw at the Hokusai exhibition in Milan a few years ago, that moved me so much.

 The armors, the katana and daggers section is huge

 Two rooms of the museum are packed with beautiful laquer works

 The Netsuke collection

 Onna-norimono, nobleswomen palanquin

images from the Museum website

this was my favourite

The heart of the exhibition is, of course, the Great Wave off the Kanagawa Coast, but there's something special on display about this work: a tactile version of the masterpiece by Hokusai that can be enjoyed by the visually impaired. I tried to figure out how it would feel but I couldn't visualize the print only with my own hands. It must be truly challenging.

This is another amazing print by Hokusai
The museum collections also includes: kimonos, musical instruments, games, laquers, porcelains, netsuke, hanging scrolls, as well as two other sections on Chinese art and on Thailand shadow theatre.

Some details on the exhibition
Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa Coast
Venice Oriental Museum at Ca' Pesaro
8 September - 3 November 2013
10am-6pm (last admission at 5pm), closed on Mondays
admission fee: 10 € (with the same ticket you can visit the International Museum of Contemporary Art at Ca' Pesaro, with works by Klimt, Klee, Chagall to mention just three) and the temporary exhibitions.