<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi Jim, and other ageing friends,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Christine, Josh and I went to the Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave exhibition yesterday in the British Museum. It was breathtaking to see some of his drawings. I thought of you reading this text, which hung besides one of the images - apparently written by the old man himself in 1834.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b class=""><font color="#9a244f" class="">Gakyo Rojin (Old Man Crazy toe Paint)</font></b></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><i class=""><font color="#9a244f" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>From the age of six I had a penchant for copying the form of things, and from about fifty, my pictures were <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>frequently published; but until the age of seventy nothing I drew was worthy of notice. At Seventy-three <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>years, I was somewhat able to fathom the growth of plants and trees, and the structure of birds, animals, </font></i></div><div class=""><i class=""><font color="#9a244f" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>insects and fish.</font></i></div><div class=""></div><div class=""></div><div class=""></div><div class=""></div><div class=""><i class=""><font color="#9a244f" class=""><br class=""></font></i></div><div class=""><i class=""><font color="#9a244f" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Thus when I reach eighty years I hope to have made increasing progress, and at ninety to see further into <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>the underlying principles of things, so that at one hundred years I will have achieved a divine state in my <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>art, and at one hundred and ten, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive. Those of you who live <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>long enough, bear witness that these words of mine are not false.</font></i></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">From Hokusai’s postscript to One Hundred Views of Mt Fuji, 1834, translated by Henry D Smith II.</div><div class="">Hokusai lived from 1760 to 1849.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="D7FF19C6-743C-460C-BEE0-2A33F4442073" height="650" width="416" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:8178938D-D963-4FF8-9850-60FAD23B35ED" class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">With best wishes to one and all,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Paul</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class=""><br class=""><div class="">
Paul Schrijnen<br class="">13 Bloemfontein Avenue<br class="">London W12 7BJ<br class=""><a href="mailto:paul.schrijnen@gmail.com" class="">paul.schrijnen@gmail.com</a><br class="">+44 7973 206 766 <br class="">skype: paulus.schrijnen<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
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