OFF-SITE EVENT Great Masters of Japanese Painting: Katsushika Hokusai

Roger Keyes, Visiting Professor in the Department of East Asian Studies, Brown University, inaugurates a four-part lecture series exploring the work of some of the most acclaimed Japanese master painters from the Edo period (1603-1867). Rising from poverty and obscurity, Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) became a celebrity artist in his own lifetime and is still probably the best-known Japanese artist; his Great Wave is an icon of Japanese art. New research on Hokusai’s work is illuminating some of the enigmas of his extraordinary life: his artistic lineage, his rise to fame, his changing names, his mastery of many visual languages and his spiritual practice, revealing some unexpected facets of creative achievement.

Tickets: $12; Asia Society & Japan Society members $7; students $5. For tickets, please call the Asia Society box office at (212) 517-ASIA or visit www.asiasociety.org.

Program held at Asia Society and Museum, 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, New York City.