This French-language catalogue was published for the exhibition Hokusai "Mad about his art" From Edmond de Goncourt to Norbert Lagane presented at the Guimet museum of Asian arts in Paris in 2008.
The Guimet Museum's holdings of Japanese graphic art contain more than a hundred works signed by Hokusai, the "old man mad about painting", as he called himself near the end of his life. These holdings include famous polychromatic prints such as The Great Wave and Red Fuji, which are part of the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji".
Several paintings, including some recently acquired and others never before exhibited, show a lesser-known side of Hosukai's work and have sometimes led to discoveries.
This is notably the case for The Dragon in the Clouds, a kakemono acquired through the Norbert Lagane donation in 2001. This scroll painting turns out to form a pair with the famous Tiger in the Rain at the Ota Museum in Tokyo.
The exhibition, which presents these works in all their diversity, also examines two important aspects: the history of these collections, i.e. how they were constituted, and the critical response to Hokusai in France since the end of the 19th century.
Over time, critics have adjusted their view of Hokusai, sometimes radically changing their opinion or offering essential insights.
This changing regard is suggested by presenting the works conserved at the museum and, at the same time, evoking great collectors and art historians who contributed through their research and opinions to developing a discourse on Hokusai during the 20th century.
