‘Everything Floats’

Posted on June 30, 2023 by JMN
“Ejiri in Suruga Province” from the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji “ by Hokusai, about 1830-31. Woodblock print depicting travelers blown off a twisting road by a sudden gust of wind. Credit… William Sturgis Bigelow Collection; via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [New York Times captioned illustration.]

As for Fuji… it’s nothing but three quick strokes: a swoop to the top, a bobble for the summit, a long glide back to the ground.

[…] What Hokusai and his successors affirm over and over is that there’s no such thing as a pure “culture” divisible from others — not even the culture of a shogunate whose subjects couldn’t leave on pain of death. Culture is always an ebb and flow of fragmentations and recombinations, of encounters both violent and peaceful. You cannot stay separate; everything floats […].

(Jason Farago, “How Hokusai’s Art Crashed Over the Modern World,” New York Times, 6-22-23)

(c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

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About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.
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1 Response to ‘Everything Floats’

  1. christinenovalarue's avatar christinenovalarue says:
    July 3, 2023 at 5:24 am

    💙

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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