Hokusai

Hokusai (Katsushika Hokusai) (kätsshē`kä hōksī`), 1760–1849, Japanese painter, draftsman, and wood engraver, one of the foremost ukiyo-e print designers. After producing wood engravings for several years, he became a pupil of the celebrated artisan Shunsho, adopting the name Shunro. In the 1790s he illustrated books and printed cards for greetings and announcements. About 1797 he took the name Hokusai. In all he used over 50 different names. His output was prodigious and his fame widespread, but to the end of his life he lived in poverty and retained his simplicity.

Hokusai was distinguished for the variety of his styles, his extraordinary technical excellence, and his observant delineation of contemporary life. His landscapes reveal a startling imagination and a dramatic sense of composition. Of his astounding output some of the best-known works are the famous Manga, or Ten Thousand Sketches, in 15 volumes (1814–78); the color-print series Views of Famous Bridges and Views of Lu-chu Islands; and Views of Mount Fuji. Hokusai's work has had a marked influence on the art of the West.

Bibliography

See his Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (1966); studies by T. Bowie (1979), M. Forrer (1988), and G. C. Calza (2003).

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Hokusai

 orig. Katsushika Hokusai

(born Oct. 1760, Edo, Japan—died May 10, 1849, Edo) Japanese painter, draftsman, printmaker, and book illustrator. Apprenticed to a woodcut engraver at 15, he became a student of the leading ukiyo-e master, Katsukawa Shunsho, in 1778. His first published works, prints of kabuki actors, appeared the following year. He soon turned to historical and landscape subjects and prints of children. He developed an eclectic style and achieved success with book illustrations and surimono prints (“printed things” for special occasions, such as cards and announcements), picture books and novelettes, erotic books and album prints, paintings, and ink sketches. He experimented with Western-style perspective and use of colour and later concentrated on samurai themes and Chinese subjects. His Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (1826–33), a series of prints, marked a summit in the history of the Japanese landscape print; in grandeur of concept and skill of execution there was little approaching it before and nothing to surpass it later. He had numerous followers, though none had his power or versatility.