Thunder god
date: label: Date
content: 1847
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849)
notes: label: Label
content: In the upper right portion of this painting is the Thunder God, who beats the drums carried on his back during storms. Japanese painters enjoyed depicting this deity among rolling clouds and sparks of lightning. Hokusai's painting reflects his virtuosity in capturing the latent energy of the deity as he hovers among black clouds splattered with ink to express the violence of the storm.
label: Label
content: A phenomenally prolific artist, Hokusai produced sketches, paintings, prints, and the illustrations for more than two hundred woodblock-printed books during his lifetime. This work, which gives his age as 88 (by Western calculation, 87), displays the skill and energy that he retained even in the last years of his life.
label: Provenance
content: To 1900
label: Provenance
content: Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (1853-1908), Japan, to 1900 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1900 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Ernest Francisco Fenollosa, through Edward S. Hull Jr., New York, in 1900 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Kakemono List, L. 203, pg. 44, as well as Voucher No. 47, June 1900, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Edward S. Hull Jr. was Ernest Francisco Fenollosa’s (1853-1908) lawyer. Hull often acted as an agent, facilitating purchases of objects consigned to him by Fenollosa, as well as purchases of objects consigned to him by Fenollosa's
label: Provenance
content: well-known associate, Bunshichi Kobayashi (see correspondence, Hull to Freer, 1898-1900, as well as invoices from E.S. Hull Jr., 1898-1900, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives). See also, Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), pgs. 15 and 34. See further, Thomas Lawton and Linda Merrill, Freer: A Legacy of Art, (Washington, DC and New York: Freer Gallery of Art and H. N. Abrams, 1993), pgs. 133-134.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art from the Collection (October 26, 2024 - ongoing)
label: Exhibition History
content: Hokusai: Mad About Painting (November 20, 2019 to January 9, 2022)
label: Exhibition History
content: Hokusai: Paintings and Drawings (January 28, 2012 to June 24, 2012)
label: Exhibition History
content: Seasons: Arts of Japan (February 5, 2011 to January 13, 2013)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Arts in the Edo Period: 1615-1868, part 2 (March 8 to October 19, 2008)
label: Exhibition History
content: Hokusai (October 25, 2005 to May 14, 2006)
label: Exhibition History
content: Surveying the Collections: Poets and Parties (July 2, 2000 to February 4, 2001)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Prints (January 18, 1980 to May 18, 1980)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting (May 2, 1973 to July 1, 1974)
label: Exhibition History
content: Hokusai Bicentennial Exhibition (March 30, 1960 to August 16, 1961)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (1853-1908) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: ukiyo-e
label: Topic
content: kakemono
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: On View
content: West Building (Freer Gallery of Art), Gallery 07: Japanese Art from the Collection
label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1900.47
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 126.9 x 53.8 cm (49 15/16 x 21 3/16 in)