The British Museum: “In 2020, the British Museum acquired 103 drawings by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) titled The Great Picture Book of Everything.  The existence of these exquisite small drawings had been forgotten. Last publically recorded at a Parisian auction in 1948, they are said to have been in a private collection in France before resurfacing in 2019. Purchased thanks to a grant from the Theresia Gerda Buch Bequest and Art Fund, the works are now available to the wider public through Collection online and in the upcoming exhibition, Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything. Katsushika Hokusai – One of the leading painters and print artists of 19th century Japan, Hokusai produced work of masterful quality throughout his 70-year-long career, creating many of his most famous pieces in the later years of his life. His most celebrated print Under the Wave off Kanagawa, better known as The Great Wave, was made around 1831 as the Edo-based (modern Tokyo) artist embarked on the rich creative period of his 70s and beyond. Hokusai’s ambition was to create images of universal appeal, imbued with powerful life force, encompassing the whole range of subjects in worlds both real and imagined. By his death aged 90, he had over 3,000 colour prints, nearly 1,000 surviving paintings, several hundred illustrated books and hundreds of drawings to his name. Japan was in virtual lockdown for 220 years. From 1639 to 1859, under the government of the Tokugawa shoguns, people were forbidden to travel abroad. Contacts with the outside world were limited and strictly regulated. Journeys within the country required an official permit. How impressive, then, that Hokusai conceived a grand project to draw, quite simply, everything.  The title page gives the date of the ninth month (late autumn), 1829, when Hokusai was 70; however, this may have been added later. At present, a broad date of 1820s to 1840s is suggested for the drawings. All 103 pieces of The Great Picture Book of Everything are treated with the customary fantasy, invention and brush skill synonymous with Hokusai’s work. However, despite creating the drawings for what was intended to be a book, the project was never completed. So why was it abandoned? This is just one of the many intriguing questions arising from the project.”