Hokusai

Artist

• Born: 1760
• Birthplace: Edo (now Tokyo), Japan
• Died: May 10, 1849
• Place of death: Tokyo, Japan

Also known as: Katsushika Hokusai; Shunrō; Tawaraya Sōri; Hokusai Tomisa; Taito; Iitsu; Gakyō Rōjin Manji

Significance: Hokusai was an eighteenth-century Japanese ukiyo-e artist known for his unique and prolific artistic output. His paintings and sketches often featured bright colors such as Prussian blue. His work was known for its nontraditional subject matter and emphasis on contrast. Hokusai's work was not introduced to Western nations until after his death in 1849. His work has since become some of the most recognizable imagery in Japanese art history.

Background

Hokusai was born in 1760 in Edo, Japan. According to Japanese documents, Hokusai was adopted at age four by Nakajima Ise, an artisan who crafted mirrors for shoguns, or Japanese military commanders. Hokusai took an interest in painting at a young age, and he may have learned the skill from his father when he was around six years of age.

His father sent him to work in a bookshop when he was twelve. He then became a wood-carver's apprentice at fourteen and remained there until he was eighteen. Hokusai was later accepted into the studio of ukiyo-e artist Katsukawa Shunshō. Hokusai trained in Shunshō's style of ukiyo-e art, which featured woodblock prints and paintings that primarily depicted the Japanese culture of courtesans and Kabuki actors. Hokusai was later renamed Shunrō by his master, and under this name, he began publishing his first picture series in 1779. He remained a part of Shunshō's studio until his master's death in 1793, after which he began exploring other forms of art. He discovered the styles of French and Dutch copper engraving, which greatly influenced his work. Hokusai also began studying the styles of the rival Kanō school. He was expelled from the Katsukawa school by Shunshō's successor, who likely accused him of disrespecting the studio's legacy. The embarrassment motivated Hokusai to go even further with his art studies.

After leaving the Katsukawa school, Hokusai decided to refocus his work on subjects that were not featured in traditional ukiyo-e art. He began painting images of the daily life of Japanese people and landscapes. His work helped change the course of ukiyo-e art and was a turning point in his career as a professional artist.

Life's Work

Hokusai next studied the Tawaraya school and adopted the name Tawaraya Sōri during his time there. He worked primarily with brush painting during this period in a style called surimono. He also illustrated for woodblock books. He discarded his Tawaraya Sōri name in 1798 to begin a career as an independent artist and began referring to himself as Hokusai Tomisa. By 1800, Hokusai had greatly developed his unique ukiyo-e technique and had published two collections of landscape paintings, Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital and Eight Views of Edo. He changed his name to Katsushika Hokusai. He was now attracting his own students who wished to learn their skill from the adventurous artist.

The next decade saw Hokusai's fame grow as his work garnered more attention. He was also an agile self-promoter. In 1904 he painted a six hundred–foot portrait of the Buddhist priest Daruma using only a broom and large buckets of ink. A tale also exists of his antics during an art competition at the court of Shogun Iyenari, during which he used a chicken to paint floating red maple leafs by dipping its feet in red ink and having it walk across his painting of the sea. Beginning in 1807, Hokusai provided illustrations for a series of books by Japanese novelist Takizawa Bakin. He and Bakin stopped collaborating after the third book due to creative differences, but Hokusai was kept on by the publisher as an illustrator.

In 1811, Hokusai—now going by Taito—began working on a series of art manuals. His first manual, Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing, was published in 1812. Alongside his manuals, he began creating his Hokusai manga, a collection of sketches and caricatures. He published his first volume in 1814 and went on to publish eleven more through 1820. The volumes contained thousands of sketches of people, animals, and religious figures. The subjects were often portrayed in a humorous way, making them very popular within Japanese society. As his celebrity grew, he changed his name once more to Iitsu. This marked his most successful period of his career, and his work was well known throughout Japan.

The 1830s saw the completion of Hokusai's 36 Views of Mount Fuji, which includes the famous Great Wave off Kanagawa woodblock print. The publication was a huge success for the artist. Hokusai produced several other series during this time, including A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces and Unusual Views of Celebrated Bridges in the Provinces. He also produced a number of individual sketches of various flowers and birds. The artist's next creative phase began in 1834 when he took the name Gakyō Rōjin Manji (The Old Man Mad about Art), during which he created One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. Tragedy befell Hokusai in 1839 when his studio caught fire and destroyed a great deal of his work. He continued to paint, however, even after his popularity began to fade. One of his final pieces was Ducks in a Stream, which he completed at age eighty-seven. He died on April 18, 1849, in Tokyo.

Impact

Hokusai's work remains one of the most enduring contributions to Japan's artistic canon. Although praise for his art was limited to Japanese citizens for many years, his work eventually made its way to the West and received universal acclaim. His work influenced many future artists and writers, and was a major inspiration for Japan's popular manga comics.

Personal Life

Hokusai was married twice, although the exact names of his wives are unknown. He had a son and two daughters with his first wife. He also had a son and two daughters with his second wife.

Principal Works

The Dutch Picture Lens: Eight Views of Edo, 1802

Filial Son at Yōrō Waterfall, 1804–1805

Fuji from Kanaya on the Tōkaidō, 1830–1834

Fuji from Gotenyama at Shinagawa on the Tōkaidō, 1830–1834

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1830–1834

Waterwheel at Onden, 1830–1834

The ghost of Kohada Koheiji, c. 1831

Laughing Demoness, c. 1831

The Suspension Bridge on the Border of Hida and Etchū Provinces, c. 1834

Falling Mist Waterfall at Mount Kurokami in Shimotsuke Province, 1834–1835

The Amida Falls in the Far Reaches of the Kisokaidō Road, 1834–1835

Bibliography

De Goncourt, Edmond. Hokusai. Parkstone Press, 2009.

Harris, Leila Anne. "Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)." Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/japan-art/a/hokusai-under-the-wave-off-kanagawa-the-great-wave. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.

Hokusai, Katsushika. Views of Mt. Fuji. Dover Publications, 2013.

"Hokusai: The Influential Work of Japanese Artist Famous for 'The Great Wave' – In Pictures." Guardian, 20 July 2017, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/jul/21/hokusai-the-influential-work-of-japanese-artist-famous-for-the-great-wave-in-pictures. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.

Machotka, Ewa. Visual Genesis of Japanese National Identity: Hokusai's Hyakunin Isshu. P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2009.

Rodino, Heather. Art of Hokusai: Explore His Life and Legacy and Learn to Paint in His Unique Style. Quarto Publishing Group, 2015.

Stonard, John-Paul. "Hokusai: the Great Wave That Swept the World." Guardian, 19 May 2017, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/may/19/hokusai-japanese-artist-late-blossoming-great-wave-mount-fuji. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.