Genoa's Oriental Art Museum Reopens with Hokusai Water-Themed Show

The Museo d’Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone in Genoa has reopened after being closed since 2021 for maintenance. The inaugural exhibition, titled "La Grande onda. L’importanza dell’acqua nella cultura giapponese" (The Great Wave: The Importance of Water in Japanese Culture), runs from June 23 to September 24, 2023. It was organized in conjunction with The Grand Finale of the Ocean Race, a global sailing competition that, for the first time, held its final leg in Genoa. The museum now features a restored terrace overlooking the city center and port. The exhibition centers on Hokusai's iconic print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" and includes over 60 ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the museum's collection, all with aquatic themes. Works by Hokusai, Hiroshige, Kunisada, Yoshitoshi, and Kuniyoshi are displayed, alongside two glass sculptures by contemporary artist Oki Izumi, who engaged with the collection to explore water's meanings. The show highlights the ambivalent relationship Japan has with water—life-giving for rice paddies yet threatening in storms—and the frequent depiction of water in late 19th-century prints using Prussian blue pigment.