HOKUSAI
The Arts Council film collection contains some of the most ground-breaking and significant film portraits of the great masters of modern art. The Space is showing some of these rarely seen gems.
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) wasn’t his real name and he had many others during his long life – perhaps fitting for an artist who revolutionised Japanese woodcuts and produced Japan’s most famous image, The Great Wave. The print dates from around 1820 but still looks fresh and modern, a testimony to the brilliance of the drawing.
Tony White’s film won a Bafta for best animation in 1978 and his celebration of Hokusai’s extraordinary talent has the light touch and gentle humour that is so typical of the artist’s work. He captures the qualities of Hokusai’s woodblock prints, often using small, animated movements within a larger image. A horse leaps from the paper as it is still being drawn and, inevitably, the great wave finally breaks.
We have paired this film with another award-winning animated classic from the 1970s, based on the work of Toulouse Lautrec.
Explore a selection of animated content that has been featured on The Space by following this link.