Lilly 

Curator: Here we have "Lilly", a watercolor by Katsushika Hokusai, residing here at the Guimet Museum in Paris. Editor: Oh, it's absolutely delightful! The contrast of the pale lilies against that muted blue…it feels incredibly serene, almost like a daydream. There’s a lovely stillness to it. Curator: Indeed. Now, while we don't have a precise date for this artwork, we can contextualize it within Hokusai's broader oeuvre and his deep engagement with Ukiyo-e, which, translated, means "pictures of the floating world." This artistic movement often captured fleeting moments of pleasure and natural beauty. I see it as a snapshot of its era, if you like, when the transience and simple joys were a big theme. Editor: Ah, "floating world"... that totally fits with this feeling! There's also something fragile in those delicate brushstrokes. Did Hokusai's interest in botany influence the composition, maybe in its precise detail or symbolic weight? Curator: Possibly. The Ukiyo-e aesthetic held a certain ideal of beauty, and its manifestation via this art form really resonated at the time and still does today, even against our awareness and engagement with gender, race, and class—in thinking about whose simple joys were captured or, alternatively, silenced. Editor: It’s true. We tend to filter artwork through a very narrow Western lens, sometimes. I'm also interested in those darker leaves. They’re bold and they almost look black! They frame the soft blooms with a certain sharpness. Curator: Well, Hokusai's exploration of Japanese artistic sensibilities often intersected with that commercial demand and, with this artwork, what stands out is this very careful and delicate application of colour. He was adept at employing visual components of nature, but that can’t overshadow his societal perspective and intentions. Editor: I can only wonder what Hokusai’s vision would be today—he seems like he knew how to capture those “simple joys”, after all! Curator: "Lilly" certainly serves as a good demonstration of how natural imagery in the hands of Ukiyo-e masters reveals some visual, and at times conflicting, social meanings. Editor: Thank you for pointing this out, these are the things I look for in the gallery! Now, I just see how even a simple flower, if seen by the right eyes, might come to say something.