Self Portrait
This exhibition is currently on show at The British Museum until 30th January 2022. The drawings (103 recently acquired) were drawn between 1820-1840 were meant for an encyclopedia entitled The Great Picture Book of Everything. However, the book was never published. The pictures depict creation stories, myths, religion and Japanese subjects. Many of the drawings feature flowers, medicinal herbs, animals and birds and people wearing traditional clothing from countries such as China, Mongolia and Vietnam.
There are also cabinets where are there are open books to view and another with ‘tools of the trade’ of printing pictures from wood blocks, including a video demonstration.
Of course, Hokusai is best known for his painting Under the Wave, more commonly known as just The Wave. There were many versions of this, and a video tells the story of how so many came to be produced. There are two versions on the wall with a ‘spot the difference’ instruction.
The drawings in the exhibition are small and you need to get up close to see all the detail. If might be worth taking a magnifying glass with you! How Hokusai managed to get so much detail into such small drawings I do not know. The majority of the drawings are black and white, but as you come out of the exhibition you enter the Japan Room and there are some coloured paintings of Hokusai’s there, along with various paintings by other Japanese artists. The room has many other exhibits, such as swords, costumes, ceramics and a portable shrine.
After the exhibition, I headed down Charing Cross Road and had lunch in Foyles cafe before exploring all five floors of the book shop! I don’t know how I came out of there without buying a book.
From there, I walked to the River Thames, crossing to the other side, and walked along the embankment to Vauxhall, stopping for a cup of tea at the flat of my son and his girlfriend. It was a chance to take a few more photos of London – do I need an excuse?
My London+ 