Virtual Member Lecture: Japanese Prints—Hokusai’s Fantastic Landscapes

>> COURTNEY GRAHAM: Good evening. I'm  Courtney Graham with the Engagement  Programs department at the Art  Institute of Chicago. Welcome to today's  member lecture on the occasion of the  exhibition, "Fantastic Landscapes: Hokusai and Hiroshige." We're so glad  to have you joining us virtually. And while we hope this digital  format can offer a chance to stay connected to the Art Institute from  home, this program is being recorded. So if you'd like to revisit in the  future, you'll be welcome to do so. We'll begin with a brief review  of the features we'll be using today.

This program will be shared in  presentation mode so we have turned off video and microphones or attendees.  For optimal viewing, please select full screen mode under view options in  the top right corner of your screen. Throughout the presentation you're  invited to share questions through the Q and A feature at the bottom of the  screen. We look forward to answering some of those at the end of the  presentation. Closed captions are also available and can be turned on  via the controls at the bottom of the screen as well. If you encounter any  technical difficulties, during today's program, again, please let us know in  the Q and A and we'll do our best to assist you. Now it is my pleasure to  introduce our speaker, Janice Katz. Janice is the Roger L. Weston Associate  Curator of Japanese Art here at the Art Institute. She joined the museum  in 2003, and curates the museum's quarterly exhibitions of Japanese  prints in Gallery 107. Her most recent major exhibition at the Art  Institute, "Painting the Floating World, Ukiyo-e Masterpieces from  the Weston Collection," and its accompanying catalog focus on ukiyo-e  paintings of the 17th through 20th centuries. Her publications include  "Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford," and "Beyond Golden  Clouds, Japanese Screens from the Art Institute of Chicago and the  St. Louis Art Museum." Katz received her Ph.D. from Princeton University  in 2004. Her research focuses on  paintings from the Edo period and  history of art collecting in Japan.   Without further ado, I will  turn things over to Janice.

>> JANICE KATZ: Thank you so much,  Courtney, and welcome, everyone. I'm so glad that you could join us tonight  for this talk on Japanese prints. Some of you will be extremely familiar  with Japanese prints, and for others this might be the first talk that  you are joining on the subject. But either way, I hope that you'll gain a  bit of knowledge and appreciation for this very particular kind of artwork  that is historically unique throughout the world. And as Courtney said, I've  been Curator for Japanese art at the Art Institute for about 18 years  now. And it is such a privilege to do these quarterly exhibitions of Japanese prints.   I think we can go ahead and start the slide show now. So the collection of Japanese prints  at the Art Institute is very large.  Not the largest in the United States,  but still we have about 16,000  examples. And we're very strong in  certain subsets of prints such as early commercial prints and prints of  landscapes, like I'll be talking about today; and other types of prints. And  it is -- I would say, but I'm biased

the best collection of Japanese  prints in the U.S. because of those strengths, and because of its condition.  So overall it is a very rich, very deep collection, and it is such a  privilege to be able to curate these quarterly exhibitions in our Clarence  Buckingham Gallery for Japanese Prints in order to welcome all visitors to the  museum to see different parts of our collection. And it's also a privilege  to welcome scholars throughout the world to study our collection. And  I've learned a great deal from them over the years. The exhibition  that we have up right now that's the topic of our talk  tonight is "Fantastic Landscapes: Hokusai and Hiroshige." So this  show focuses on two artists who are working a generation apart.  Hokusai, who is a very well known name, I would say a household name  almost, whose work I'll be featuring from the 1830s. And then a generation  later is Hiroshige, whose works in  the exhibition are primarily from the  1850s, but both of them together are these masters of landscape prints.  Tonight I will only be talking about Hokusai. Of course you could talk for  hours and write many books and have classes on the entire subject of  Hokusai. So it's a bit much to focus on two artists, but I'll be  focussing on Hokusai tonight. And I think you're in for a treat  because the works that I'll be featuring mostly from the exhibition  are those that are the best of our collection in terms of the preservation  of bright colors, and as well as  their condition. And so it  really is, you know, some of the real gems of the collection  that we have at the Art Institute. Can I have the next slide, please?  So here is a shot of one wall of the gallery in the exhibition that we have  now that I just took with my phone yesterday. So this gives you a little  bit of a teaser. Hopefully you'll come and see the exhibition for yourself.  As you can see, you can get right  up close to all of these images and  really see the materiality, the paper,  the color right up close in the  lighting. So I do hope you come and enjoy these works for yourself in the show  going to be up until October 11th.

So as I was saying, I'll be focusing  on the artist Hokusai tonight. And Hokusai is probably the best known  Japanese artist worldwide, and of course he is known for his iconic  work of art, this print, which is  nicknamed "The Great Wave." Its  official name is "Under the Wave off  Kanagawa" but everyone knows it  as the Great Wave. It has such an  afterlife. It has inspired musical  compositions, it's an emoji. Why is it  so iconic? People ask me that and I  try to come up with an answer I think  it's the way that something that is  so ethereal like water but so common,  has been captured here in atempting  to show its movement and the frothy  fingers of the waves look like these  little moving tendrils. So the wave  looks alive. And the color as well  has such a great impact, right? It is this blue. I'm going to be  talking a lot about the color blue  tonight. The blue that you're seeing  is largely this imported blue. It's called Berlin blue, or Prussian  blue. And it was in Japan before the  1830s. But this is when it became  reasonably priced enough to use  ubiquitously in Japanese prints. And  so that coincides with Hokusai's great  draftsmanship in creating these images.  Now, one thing that you might not  realize at first when you look at this  image is Mount Fuji, which is quite small, sort of in the center there  being overpowered by this great wave.  But this print is from a series of  prints, all focussed on Mount Fuji, Mount  Fuji is the subject of that series,  "36 views of Mount Fuji of" which there  were actually 46 prints made because  it was so popular. And while the Great  Wave is not in the exhibition that's  on view tonight, other prints from  these 36 views of Mount Fuji are.  And I'll be talking about them.

Can I have the next slide, please?  So here is a self portrait of Hokusai himself. And this was done in 1835.  So just after the time period when many of those 36 views of Mount Fuji  had already been issued. Here he is in his mid 70s. And he is  casting himself as a fisherman. (Chuckling) >> JANICE KATZ: There are two poems that are on this print. One of them  has his signature. And also the figure himself really compares well to  some self portraits that Hokusai has done. So all of that makes us  confident that this is a self portrait done in print, and you can see that  kind of wry smile and tufts of hair  coming out from the side of his  head and Hokusai himself was really quite a character. He went  through many different periods in his life, many different artistic periods.  He studied all different kinds of schools that were prevalent at the  time in Japan, and he also changed his  name a lot, over 30 times. And he  also changed where he lived. I think  over 90 times. So he led a very frenetic  life. And around this time in his 70s was a particularly difficult time  in his life. It was a very fruitful  time in terms of producing images, but  personally he was going through some difficulty times where he was having  some family issues, his grandson was causing him some trouble. He also came  upon hard times. And so the series  of 36 Views of Mount Fuji really  comes at a time when he is looking to revive himself spiritually  and economically as well. So it comes at a very interesting time  in his life also. Now I'm going to show you just a few slides of all  the different kinds of artwork, some representative kinds of artwork that  Hokusai did throughout his very, very long career. He lived to his 90s.  Just to give you a sense of -- he lived until about 90. Just to give  you a sense of his incredible range,  that you might not be familiar with,  he did images of ghosts and demons, and  here what I'm showing you is this  really fantastic image of this ghost  peering over a mosquito net at the  couple sleeping beyond. You know, very,  very eerie. It's a very small print  but beautifully colored. And then on  the right is this composition of  big flowers, you get a series of big  flowers. I had to show you these  chrysanthemums because right now we're in  the chrysanthemum season. Can  I have the next slide please? And then there are also other images  of Mount Fuji, many other images of  Mount Fuji. What I'm showing you on  the left is a different kind of print  than you may be familiar with. It is  called a surimono. Surimono prints  tend to be smaller, they're done on  thicker paper and they're done with more  expensive pigments because they were  not commercially available like other  prints were. These were privately  published. Privately funded. And these  were made available to members of  the poetry circles who funded them.

So they often carry poems by members  of that club. And that's the case that you see here. And you have Mount Fuji  done on this very thick paper, and  the tip of Mount Fuji is only distinguished  by embossing. So there's really  no color, there's no line there. But  if you saw the print in person you  would see that it's actually embossed,  blind printed. And that gold band of  clouds is brass filings, brass dust  that is meant to look like gold. So it is really very finely printed  image of Mount Fuji. And then on the right, Hokusai illustrated many, many  printed books. This comes from -- these pages come from "The One Hundred  Views of Mount Fuji." And this was done almost around the same time  that the 36 views of Mount Fuji print series was done. Hokusai had so many  more images in his head, inventive  ways to show the mountain that he  and his publisher conceived of three  books. And I particularly love the  page on the left which has this  ornament. It is a roof ornament of a  fish. The body of a fish, the head of  a lion, with Mount Fuji in the  distance. And what it perching on top of  that ornament is a tiny little sparrow.  This is the roof ornament from the  Shogun's castle. And by having a  tiny sparrow perching on it, I think Hokusai's trying to say well you  think you're so powerful, Shogun, that  nothing could top you but a humble  bird has come and sat on top. Can I have the next slide please? And  Hokusai is also very well known as a  painter. He painted throughout his  life. And here I'm showing you a  composition that shows a courtesan at  night. She's got the lanterns next to her, and she is going to meet a client.  This is a painting that is somewhat  sketchily done, somewhat hastily done.  Because it was done at a gathering,  at a party, with the materials that  Hokusai had on hand. Kind of like a  performance. It's pretty incredible  that, you know, he was able to produce  something like this. And you see the  full composition on the left that it  carries a poem from one of the attendees,  a very well known literatus poet.  So, Hokusai is very well known  also as a painter. There are entire  exhibitions of Hokusai's paintings.  But here in the U.S. we know him  primarily as a designer of prints.  Can I have the next slide, please? So now I'm going to be showing you some  images from the exhibition. And all of the prints that I'm showing you here  and also earlier are works that come from the Art Institute's collection.  Unless I specifically say otherwise.

So you can see really how diverse our  collection is. And how lucky we are to have so many different works by  Hokusai himself. This is -- these are  two works from the water fall series.  This was done around the same time as  the Fuji series, around 1833. And  it uses, again, this Berlin blue. Which is this very bright pigment  that was the first synthetic pigment,  chemical pigment that was  used in Japanese prints. And it's important because its color is  very bright, but also its tinting strength was very good. So you only  needed a very little bit of it to get this bright blue color. And this sort  of paved the way for this revolution in landscape prints where landscapes  really came into their own. Before this you had prints of actors,  of courtesans, of course you had landscape prints. But it was really  this widespread use of this Berlin blue pigment that transformed landscape  prints. Because all of a sudden you could show bright blue water, bright  blue sky. And make these compositions as exciting as images of your favorite  actor or a beautiful courtesan. And I can't think of anything more  exciting than these images of water where you can literally see the  movement that Hokusai is trying to convey. This series of water  falls has eight different views, and at the Art Institute we have seven  of these prints. They are extremely  well preserved. In addition to this  Berlin blue, you still have the use of  the previous blue that was  widespread in Japan, which is indigo.

Indigo is better used for outlines.  For smaller areas. And Berlin blue is  very good for larger areas of color.  Hokusai uses both in this -- in this  series. And you also get an amping  up of all the other colors. You have  these chartreuse kind of lime green  hills, you have these deep browns. But  all the other colors get amped up in  the process in order to go along and  complement this bright blue. The fall  on the left is one of my favorites.  It's Amida Falls, it refers to the Amida  Buddha. And that round area, stream  from which the waters is falling is  meant to be evocative of the Buddha's  halo or sometimes it's said the Buddha's  eye. It's not actually that round. You don't get that circular shape in  nature. So Hokusai is changing it a bit in order to make a really  interesting composition, I think. Can I have the next slide, please?  This is one of the series of 36 views of Mount Fuji, and this is called  Hodogaya. It is the fourth post station  on your way outside of the capital  of Edo. And it is along this road, the Tokaido, Road, that linked the  capital of Edo with the former capital where the emperor resided in Kyoto.  And I love this composition because  with just a few colors, that  bright blue being one of them, Hokusai has really created this very  complex image that is very balanced,  that your eye kind of darts around  looking at all the different areas of bright color. And if anybody studies  color theory, you would know that this  kind of bright orange is opposite  on the color wheel from the blue.

So they complement each other  very, very well. And with just a few colors here he has managed to  express the landscape, but also the figures in front. So I think it is  a very refined, limited and very effective use of bright color here.  Can I have the next slide, please? I wanted to show you these two images.  Again, they're from this 36 views of Mount Fuji series. This is  known as Kajikazawa. And these are not in the exhibition, but I use  it just to show you how important that blue pigment really was. The series,  these 46 views of Fuji, were issued in groups. And we believe -- and when I  say we, I mean scholars, and when I say scholars, I pretty much mean Henry  Smith who has done a lot of research on the color blue and the use of  Prussian blue in this period -- have determined that these compositions  were first issued all in shades of blue  in order to feature that new  pigment. And in the Art Institute's  collection we have one of those  that I'm showing you on the left. In  Japanese these are called aizuri-e,  which means a blue printed picture,  literally. And some of the images in  the 36 views of Mount Fuji series are  done all in blue. And then they are  reissue the later on, sometime later,  we don't exactly know when, but in  there -- in their second or third  editions, color starts to come in and  you get the green for that boulder  there, that rock that's jutting out.  And you get some color in the sky as well. So movement is very important  in Hokusai's compositions. And many people cite this image as one in which  you can also hear the ocean. You can hear the roar and sound, is also very  important for Hokusai to be able to evoke with these images. Can  I have the next slide, please? This is one of my favorites from the  series. And it's interesting that this is not one of the original 36  images. This is from that set of ten that was produced after the original  36 because the series was so incredibly popular. And this set of ten  shows the back of Mount Fuji. And here Fuji is seen kind  of between the blue and that yellowish peek right in the middle  there. This is considered the back, if a mountain has a back. But this  is considered the back of Mount Fuji. And here I think the colors are --  have a bit more of a range to them. But still extremely pleasing. And you have  that blue definitely foregrounded.

One way to know that this is from the  last group of ten that was issued is because the outlines are in black. The  rest of the series, the outlines are in blue. Which is a very, again,  distinctive feature from this series.  Can I have the next slide, please?  Scholars believe that this is the very  last image that was issued from the  set of views of Fuji. So if we're  counting, it would be No. 46. Because  you don't see Mount Fuji at all. You have these pilgrims that are climbing  up Mount Fuji, you're actually on  the mountain itself so you don't get  the perspective of actually seeing it  from a distance. And they're going  towards a cave in the upper right. And this is believed to be the cave  where the founder of this Fuji cult --  there was a cult that believed in  the spirituality of the mountain.

There was a deity who resided in the  mountain. And the leader of that cult  was known to have meditated and actually  went on a hunger -- on a fast in  this cave. And so it is a holy site.  And so many believers of this Fuji  cult actually make a pilgrimage to  go to this cave in the mountain. And that's what we're seeing here. It  is very likely that Hokusai himself  was a believer in this cult. Certainly  he believed in Fuji as a symbol of  immortality, and perhaps one could  even go so far as to say that his  constant sketching of Mount Fuji,  creating new and inventive compositions,  was a way for him to try and capture  some of this immortality for himself.  He has a very -- Hokusai has a very  famous quote in which he says, you know, "if only I could live to be 110,  then every stroke of my brush, every line would be as if alive." And that  is a quote from his book of Mount Fuji images. And so he very much I  think identified with the mountain. And strove for his own immortality.  Could I have the next slide, please? And this image in the exhibition is  known as Red Fuji. That's its nickname.

This image is actually better  known than the Great Wave in Japan. This is equally a very famous image.  And we have two different editions of  it in the exhibition shown side by  side. Its official title is "A Mild  Breeze on a Fine Day." And here you  see Fuji with a red cast, only the  mountain, majestic, singular. And  this red cast is something that is  actually found in nature. Especially  in the summer, early fall, in the  early morning at sunrise. Mount  Fuji can have a reddish cast to it. But the coloring of the images from  the earliest impressions, to the slightly later impressions, differs,  quite a bit. So what I'm showing you  here on the left is what we believe an  earlier impression. It has a lighter  shade -- this is not entirely due to  fading, this is actually lighter shade  of red. A different kind of gradation  from the green to that orangey red, to the brown at the top. That gradation  is a special effect, in Japanese  prints called bokashi, not something  carved into the block, it is a method  of applying color in washes to the  block. In order to create that effect of graduated color. So it is  something that only the most skilled craftsmen were able to do.  And you see the lighter color on the left. And it's quite rare to have an  edition of Red Fuji with this lighter color. But it just shows you the care  with which these colors were chosen and printed. And Hokusai himself must  have had a hand in choosing which colors and how they were applied in  this series. Many times artists do not have that kind of say in the  finished look of their prints. It was really the publisher who sets the  look of the print, chose the pigments,  made sure that they could turn a profit,  that the production didn't get too expensive. But given the care and the precision of the coloring here, I think we can  say Hokusai definitely had a hand in determining how the finished print  would look. And to my eyes -- and you can say if you believe this as well,  especially if you go to see the exhibition, and you see the print  itself -- to my eyes the lighter color makes it seem as if there is more  depth. It is a really -- quite a linear expression of the mountain.  But the color is what gives it volume  and depth. And I think that is more  successful on the left in the earlier image. On the right is the standard  impression where you have the darker red color and all the other colors are  amped up and they're brighter. This image was enormously popular, and  the publisher realized that if the mountain is brighter, then he can sell  more prints. Also of note are these fluffy clouds which are not like any  other clouds that you get in Japanese art previously, so it seems like they  may be based on western images, maybe copper plate engravings with -- the  clouds are also something to note in this image. Could I have the next slide, please? And here is an even earlier edition.  And this is known as Pink Fuji,  because you do get that pinkish color  in a very different shape of the  gradation, of the gradient here. And  there are only a few of these known,  these pink Fujis, one is in the Smith  College Museum of Art that I'm showing  you here, the other is the Musee Guimet  in Paris. And this is believed to be the earliest edition, or an earlier  edition I should say, and thanks to  the research by conservation scientist  Capuchine Korenberg, who is coming  out on her article on this subject.  We know for sure, through her analysis of the pigments and the printing  process, that indeed Pink Fuji was an  earlier edition. If I can have the  next slide please. Here's a photograph  that shows you that Fuji in  actuality can have a pink cast to it.

I got this off the Internet. I think  that the color was probably doctored a  little bit. But in reality, Fuji can  be pinkish red. Can I have the next  slide, please? I have written a blog  article for our website where you  can learn more about the red and the  pink Fuji as well as the reaction to  this image by artists in Europe and  America. It's on our website. I think  it's on the home page now. And we'll  put the link to that in the chat if  you would like to learn more. Can  I have the next slide, please? And here what I love to do is to show  people all the different editions that we have at the museum of the Great Wave  to drive home the fact that this is  a print. And it was created in  multiples. There are tens of thousands of  prints of The Great Wave that  exist. It's a matter of which ones were printed earlier and which ones  were printed later from the wood blocks, there were about eight blocks,  wood blocks used. One for each color  and one for the outlines that were  done in blue. And the image that I'm  showing you on the left and the one  in the middle are similar in terms of  time period. The one on the right that  actually still has the unfaded pink  sky we believe is a later edition. And  that is confirmed if you can see by  the shape of the light blue in the  wave that is closest to the foreground.  Those light blue shapes are different.  That's because the light blue block  was destroyed or lost, or it became  unusable after being printed so many  times. And a new block for the light  blue was carved. And so you get those  different shapes. But all the other  blocks are original. And this begs the  question, what is an original print  and what is a facsimile? Well, you can  have an original print made as long  as you still have the original blocks.  It could be decades after the artist's  lifetime. A facsimile would be  something that is made with recarved  blocks. And I could talk about these  three images for a long time,  but we have limited time today. So we'll move on to our  last image, our last slide. And here I'm showing you a print from  the series of images "Explained by the Wet Nurse" is the title of the  series, "Poems Explained by the Wet Nurse." And these are images based on  Japanese classical poems where Hokusai has whimsically created an image,  sometimes linked to the poem, sometimes  not. Sometimes you understand where  the link with the poem comes from,  other times it makes no sense.   But the images are in the exhibition because of their wonderful use of a very deep,   very rich color. And you can see that the palette here is quite expanded.   And where a little bit later in time period, here we are 1835, 1836.   And this is the pinnacle of the use of bright colors for Hokusai. After this series,   they -- Japan had a financial crisis. Many of the publishers went under.   This series was never completed, actually.   We have drawings done by  Hokusai that were never made  into finished prints. The publisher  just didn't have the funding to finish.  So this is kind of like a dramatic  end and climax to this use of bright  color for Hokusai in the 1830s.  Which of course has this wonderful  afterlife in the prints that were  collected by those in Europe, especially  the impressionist painters, who were  seeing this particular period of stark  bright color in images by Hokusai and  Hiroshige, but it is a particularly short period in the whole history  of Japanese prints. The next slide  please. We're almost out of time.  I want to leave time for questions.

But I wanted to let you know that the  print exhibition that is -- that's  coming up next in October is on 20th  century art, abstract images by Onchi  Kõshirõ. And this is an exhibition  that can only be done at the Art  Institute because of our wonderful  collection of prints by this artist. And that opens on October 16th. So  I hope that you will come to the  museum both to see the landscape  exhibition as well as this one on abstract  works. And I'm very happy to answer  a few questions from the audience. >> COURTNEY GRAHAM: Thanks so much,  Janice. Yeah, we've gotten a bunch of wonderful questions coming in. So  we'll jump into those. The first question: Is the Great Wave actually  part of a larger print, possibly with something -- some imagery of the  coast or a harbor off to the right? Is there a version like that? >>  JANICE KATZ: So the version that I showed you is the actual frame, that  is the actual wood blocks. And there might be a slight margin on some of  the images. But that is the complete image. I mean there are other  iterations that were done by Hokusai himself and by others that show The  Great Wave. So there are many other compositions that you may call to  mind. But that particular print with  those wood blocks is the way I showed  you except for perhaps a margin that  was missing. >> COURTNEY GRAHAM: Great. Thank you.

This person asks, are all three  versions of Red Fuji taken from the same  wood blocks? There seem to be some differences. >> JANICE KATZ: Yes, the images that  I showed you are all from the same wood block. And I think that the  difference that you may have noted of  course is in that bokashi, in the  graduated color, which a -- the gradient makes a very different shape. And that  was done by hand, by applying color  to the block in a different way. That  was not a feature that was carved  into the blocks. So if that's what  you're referring to, then I can say that  the blocks that were used were the  same for all the images that I showed.  Unless you have looked extremely  carefully and have noted some difference  with the lines, in which case I should  go back and do the same. So please  let me know. (Chuckling) >>  COURTNEY GRAHAM: Thanks, Janice. This question is about the Self-Portrait  as a Fisherman. Wondering if the  other poem in the work was  written by Hokusai's daughter? >> JANICE KATZ: Yeah, that is a really  great question. The other poem is  signed with this word that basically  can be translated as "the drunk." So I believe that people think Hokusai  is responsible for that poem as well.  Although I haven't looked into the  scholarship around the poems before this  talk. So I do know that that --  his daughter is -- is known to have  authored poems. I don't think it's  this particular one. She of course was  an artist, and she helped Hokusai in  his studio. So you're not far off.

>> COURTNEY GRAHAM: A couple of  questions related to if Hokusai lived near Mount Fuji or traveled to Mount  Fuji often and if that was very popular for people to make that  trip. And if the artist did so. >> JANICE KATZ: Thank you so much for  that question about travel. Which is something that I meant to talk  about. And I didn't get a chance to. Because landscapes were so popular in  this period because people did travel.

You had this new road system that  people could use. And they would travel for business or as pilgrims.  And it -- yes, Hokusai himself traveled, and lived in many places  around the capital, from which you could see Fuji. And he also  lived elsewhere in Japan. So I don't know how often he traveled,  but certainly this idea of -- of  being able to show Fuji are from all  these different locations, being able  to see the mountain from different  locations throughout the city and outside  the city is something that he  would have been familiar with. >> COURTNEY GRAHAM: A couple of  questions about production and whether these would have been made in a  workshop, possibly with studio assistants or apprentices. Could you  talk a little about what the process might be? >> JANICE KATZ: Sure. There are many skilled crafts people that go into  the finished print that we see. In  19th century, the period that we're  focusing on, it really was a whole host host of professionals from the  publisher, who was the one who sort of master minded everything and brought  all these people together, to the artist, usually it was the publisher  who commissioned the artist and had the artist do a drawing. And then  that drawing would be worked up into something that was finished with  very clear lines. That could be then pasted down onto the wood block and  carved through by someone who was skilled or many people, actually,  not just one skilled as carvers.

In order to create what we call the  key block, which is the block that has the outlines of the image raised. And  then that was used in order to create all the subsequent blocks for color.  And they were registration marks on the blocks as well so that you can  line everything up very well. But then there were another set of craftsmen  who actually did the printing. So there are really many people who were involved. >> COURTNEY GRAHAM: Quite a team involved, yes. >> JANICE KATZ: Thankfully. >>  COURTNEY GRAHAM: Yes. Janice, there's a very interesting comment and  question remarking how the sky in Red Fuji has some similarities to Georgia  O'Keeffe's "Sky Above Clouds," which  of course is featured prominently  in the museum's collection.

Do you think that that is perhaps a  coincidence, or maybe just talk had a little bit about how inspiring these  works could be to other artists. >> JANICE KATZ: Yeah. I think that  is a wonderful comparison. And it  gives me the idea to maybe show them  together at some point. I think that  would be great. I think  what we're seeing in Hokusai is an influence from some western  prints, and as well as himself actually looking at the sky and trying  to work out how best to make clouds look realistic. And evocative of  beautiful weather. I mean it's called "Fuji on a Fine Day." We've seen  that weather the past couple of days,  we've seen the clouds in just the  past few days. So it's Hokusai looking  for a new kind of language, and not  relying on this kind of -- these set  models that were there for him in  Japanese art. You know, historically. And I think that kind of  experimentation, that kind of looking at nature, trying to figure out how to  best translate that into an image is something that Georgia O'Keeffe shared.  I mean, I don't know if they were looking at the same thing or if Georgia  O'Keeffe were looking at Hokusai,  but I think that same kind of creative  mind is at play. And that same kind  of reference for nature and trying  to create something that could be evocative or even rival nature. >>  COURTNEY GRAHAM: Certainly. So I think we have time for one last question.  This person asks with over 6,000 prints in the collection, how long will  it take to cycle through all of them  in quarterly exhibitions? Maybe  you can talk just a little about the breadth of the collection and how  you're working to put so many of them on view. >> JANICE KATZ: It would  take quite a long time. I haven't  done the math. And that's because  all prints aren't created equal.

We do try to do exhibitions of a great  variety of prints, both classical and modern and contemporary. Throughout  the year. So we're mindful of  showing different parts of the  collection. Some are in better condition  than others. We're very lucky to  have so many that are in a wonderful  condition. Sometimes we feature  new gifts, new acquisitions. Other times we feature works that  resonate with events going on throughout  the city. Like for Frank Lloyd Wright's  150th birthday we had prints that  used to be in Frank Lloyd Lloyd Wright's  collection on view. So we're not  cycling through everything methodically.  And it really changes from year to  year. But the collection is vast.  And virtually any theme that I could  come up with, there are great prints  in order to support that rotation. And it is such a privilege, as I  said, to be able to do these quarterly  print exhibitions. And I believe we're  the only museum in the U.S. that's  able to sustain that. And that's thanks  to the collection, but also all my  wonderful colleagues. And we're really  glad to always have something new on  view when you come to the museum.  >> COURTNEY GRAHAM: Thank you again, Janice, for that wonderful talk and  for all of these questions. And thank  you all for joining us this evening.  The exhibition, "Fantastic Landscapes: Hokusai and Hiroshige" is on  view through October 11th and the exhibition "Onchi Kõshirõ: Affection  for Shapeless Things" will be on view  from October 16th to January 10th. For  more information on upcoming virtual  events, please visit us online at  ARTIC.edu and look for our monthly enews  in your inboxes. We look forward  to seeing you again soon.

Thanks everyone. . . -END- . .