Katsushika Hokusai’s Great Wave is possibly one of the most celebrated works in art history, But did you know it’s part of a much larger series?
Look closely and you will see framed by the great frothing crested wave is Japan’s Mount Fuji. The Great Wave, which is actually titled Under the Wave off Kanagawa, is only one of 46 of Hokusai’s Views of Mount Fuji, created between 1830 and 1834. You can see them all for the first time in the UK at London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Across the series, Hokusai depicts the mountain from varying viewpoints, times of year and day, and across moments in people’s lives. You’ll see Mount Fuji on a clear day, in the distance from a street lined with shops, from the perspective of people on a pilgrimage and from the balcony of a temple.
Our reviewer Dominik Havsteen-Franklin was moved by how much his relationship with the Great Wave was altered by seeing it as one in a whole series. When he looked at the wave and the mighty Fuji looking tiny in the distance, he thought of the people working at its base and living in the villages surrounding it. He realised how the mountain’s colour would change if Hokusai had painted it at a different time of year. Ultimately, he was left with was an ever-greater appreciation for this important work.
Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji from the Iuchi Collection
is on at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, until January 17 2027
Read more:
Hokusai’s Great Wave is one of 46 prints of Mount Fuji – seeing them together changes everything
Well-rounded people
Elsewhere in London, another first is happening: the solo show of the Colombian figurative artist Fernando Botero. The exhibition, Fernando Botero, in Praise of an Amplified World, presents a range of paintings and sculptures from across the artist’s extraordinary 70-year career.
There is something pleasing about the rotundness of Botero’s people. Squat and sturdy, they swell to fill the canvas or burst from their bronze edges with all their fleshy humanity. Botero’s approach to scale and volume, compressing and expanding at once, is incredibly playful and his use of colour is just so inviting.
I particularly love his paintings of women in which they are presented looking like heavily ornamented multi-tier cakes, like En La Plaza (1987). When you see them, you may find yourself wondering if British artist Beryl Cook drew on the influence of the Columbian painter.
Those who know Botero for such whimsical works might be surprised by those painted with the same sensibility depicting grim scenes of violence. Or paintings which come with a serious political message, such as the rotund police-like figures dragging away a bloodied dead bull. It’s an exhibition that reveals the breadth and depth of this immensely skilled artist’s work.
Fernando Botero, in Praise of an Amplified World is at the Opera Gallery, London until November 22
Read more:
What Fernando Botero’s exaggerated figures reveal about sex, power and violence
Earthly Paradise: Radical Living in the UK at The William Morris Gallery in London explores how people, places and communities have shaped ideas of home, art and activism in Britain over the past 200 years. Featuring artworks, photographs and archival materials, it highlights unconventional homes and the radical individuals who challenged social norms, while examining how class and wealth influence access to alternative ways of living.
You’ll see historic homes like William Morris’s Red House in London and the Bloomsbury Group’s Sussex home Charleston, but also Danièle Lamarche’s 1980s photographs of Bangladeshi squatters in east London. Our reviewer found the exhibition a profound exploration of the myriad struggles and joys that have shaped modern life.
Earthly Paradise: Radical Living in the UK is on at The William Morris Gallery, London, until March 28 2027
Read more:
Earthly Paradise at the William Morris Museum asks how we can ‘live radically’ inside our homes
Keeping women’s stories alive
Phillipa Gregory’s new book Royal Witch retells the story of Eleanor Cobham, “the woman they called witch. Who would have called herself queen”.
Cobham, like many women before and after her, suffered for being ambitious and wanting to improve her lot in life. The 15th-century Englishwoman rose from modest beginnings to the highest ranks of society when she married the Duke of Gloucester, briefly heir presumptive to the throne. How did she get there? Sorcery and witchcraft, if you believe the formal inquiry. For this, she was paraded barefoot throught the streets of London and then imprisoned for life.
Gregory’s book keeps the story alive, letting us not forget how horribly history treated women. Historian Lynsey Cowlishaw asks us to approach such stories critically, and examine the facts and nuance that are conveniently overlooked when a powerful woman is reduced to her reputation as a witch.
Royal Witch by Phillipa Gregory is out now
Read more:
When powerful women are remembered as witches, we should challenge the historical motive
Talking of keeping stories alive, UK publisher Persephone Books’ mission is just that. The publisher is helping to bring “lost” 20th-century novels by women to 21st century bookshelves. Its latest is Her Son’s Wife by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.
You’ve likely never heard of the book or its author, unless you are already a Persephone fan. However, in her heyday Canfield Fisher was a household name and Her Son’s Wife was tipped to win the Pulitzer prize when it was first published in 1926.
The book tells the story of Mrs Mary Bascomb, a woman in her mid-40s who thought all the tumult of life was behind her. That is till the rhythms of her quiet domestic world are interrupted when her son unexpectedly returns home from college with a new wife.
Mary finds herself on the defensive as her lovingly maintained home is increasingly taken over by the young couple. It is a wonderful, gentle book that our reviewer says beautifully captures the quiet magic and emotion of domestic life.
Her Son’s Wife by Dorothy Canfield Fisher is out now
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Her Son’s Wife by Dorothy Canfield Fisher finds profound meaning and emotion in domestic life
