Katsushika Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849) was an Edo period Japanese
artist, painter, wood engraver and ukiyo-e maker, born in Edo (now
Tokyo). Author of the 13-volume sketchbook Hokusai manga (begun in
1814) and the block prints Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, (created
around 1823-1829), which includes "In the Hollow of a Wave off the
Coast at Kanagawa." He is still considered one of the outstanding
figures of the ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world"
(transient pleasure-seeking, i.e., the world of theaters,
restaurants, teahouses, courtesans and geishas), school of
printmaking.
Hokusai is also renowned for his erotic prints in shunga style. In
fact many of the prints of both Hokusai and Sharaku were actually
advertisements for brothel houses and theaters, performances or
idol portraits of actors and teahouse girls. His "Fukujus", a
series of twelve prints celebrating the glory of flesh and passion,
is considered one of the three greatest shunga works. His art was
an important source of inspiration for many European impressionists
like
Claude Monet and
American artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Both Hokusai
and Hiroshige have had an enormous impact on landscape painting
worldwide.
Ultimately, Hokusai's name is indelibly linked to Whistler's. Not
only was Whistler greatly influenced by Hokusai's painting style,
but the two artist's works are important in the permanent
collection of Asian and American paintings at the Charles Lang
Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, in Washington, DC, where they
represent one of the earliest and most important compositions of
Eastern (Hokusai et al.) and Western (Whistler et al.) aesthetics.
Please visit our gallery of
Katsushika Hokusai Oil Painting Reproduction.
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