This inspirational exhibition in the centre of Milan sets out to rectify this black hole in our artistic consciousness. There is almost more text to read (also in English) than images to see, as you wind your way through a labyrinth that explores progressively the different periods in Hokusai's astounding 70-year career. I have rarely attended a more outwardly didactic exhibition of art. What the organizers have to do is not only inform about the works of art on view but educate the western mind as to the Japanese way of viewing the natural universe.  We begin by entering Katsushika Hokusai's (1760-1849) ukiyoe period "Images of the Floating World" which reflects the Edo (1615-1868) philosophy that all things are ephemeral. Intimate drawings and prints of the kabuki theatre actors and exquisite courtesans of the Yoshiwara tea houses. This was before he developed a style completely his own distilled in "Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji" 1823-29 including the famous "Great Wave Off Kanagawa"; Colour  woodcut, 10 x 15 in; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
 

The title of the exhibition comes from a quote by the artist "Written by Manji the old man mad about painting"...:
 

"From the ago of five I have had  passion for sketching the form of
things, from about the age of fifty I showed a number of drawings, yet
of all I drew prior to my seventies there is truly nothing of any great
note. When I was seventy-two I finally made out something of the shape
of grasses and trees, the structure of birds and other animals, insects,
fishes. Therefore when I become eighty I shall have made more progress;
in my nineties I shall have penetrated even further the hidden meaning
of things; at the age of a hundred I shall have reached the divine
mystery, and at one hundred and ten even dots and lines will surely
possess a life of their own. I only beg those of you who will live long
enough to verify the truth of my words."

The exhibition is littered with such philosophical quotes from the artist and anecdotes about his life. The only point where I felt the exhibition disappointed was in the final section meant to show Hokusai's dramatic influence upon Western art. Hokusai's art was introduced to mid-19th century Paris by the wide circulation of his prints. The impressionists Claude Monet and Edgar Degas were enthusiastic collectors of Hokusai prints as was Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. However the samples chosen to reflect the impact of Hokusai upon these artists were few and unremarkable with the exception of Dancers Training, (ca. 1887) by Degas on loan from the Metropolitan Museum New York.
On the whole the exhibition is innovative, infomative and thoroughly entertaining from its specially designed 'red room' that displays Hokusai's explicit erotic masterpieces to the giant blow ups of his caricatures pasted around the walls. It is easy to understand why the smartest set in Milan are flocking there every night till 11pm.
 

R. Le Goff in Milan