Major show of Japanese "Old Master" Hokusai opens in Berlin

Aug 25, 2011, 16:35 GMT

Berlin - An exhibition of the art of Katsushika Hokusai, Japan's greatest 'Old Master,' was set to open Friday in Berlin, with many of the drawings and woodcuts being shown outside Japan for the first time.

The show runs until October 24 at the Martin Gropius Bau, a 19th-century exhibition building in the middle of the city.

Gereon Sievernich, director of the museum, said the art was so fragile that it could only be shown for 10 weeks and would then be sent straight back to Japan, and would not be shown elsewhere.

'If you want to see this exhibition, you've got to come to Berlin,' he said.

Hokusai, who lived 1760-1846, is esteemed among European art lovers as Japan's greatest artist. Many also call him the father of the art style that remains wildly fashionable in manga comics drawn round the globe.

Many of his drawings show scenes from daily life in old Japan. His woodcut, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, has been reprinted millions of times round the world as posters and paper prints.

The art show, with 400 items, was organized to mark the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Prussia, the predecessor to Germany.

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