Katsushika Hokusai
b. 1760 — d. 1849
Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock print The Great Wave [https://www.artic.edu/artworks/77333/under-the-wave-off-kanagawa-kanagawa-oki-nami-ura-also-known-as-the-great-wave-from-the-series-thirty-six-views-of-mount-fuji-fugaku-sanjurokkei] is one of the most famous and recognizable works of art in the world. This work is from Hokusai’s much-celebrated series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjûrokkei), a tour-de-force that established the popularity of landscape prints, which continues to this day. Hokusai spent the majority of his life in the capital of Edo, now Tokyo, and lived in a staggering 93 separate residences. Despite this frenetic movement, he produced tens of thousands of sketches, prints, illustrated books, and paintings. He also frequently changed the name he used to sign works of art, and each change signaled a shift in artistic style and intended audience. When he was nineteen, he began working at the studio of Katsukawa Shunshô (1726–92), a well-known designer of actor prints. Initially, Hokusai followed in his teacher’s footsteps and produced prints of popular Kabuki actors, but his insatiable curiosity about different ways of seeing the world led him to study a multitude of artistic styles. These included the native Rinpa and Kano schools, as well as foreign modes based on Dutch imports such as oil paintings, copperplates, telescopes, and other optical devices. These influences can be found in Hokusai’s art, but it is his mastery and integration of styles that point towards his own personal, entirely new style. This maturity can best be seen in his Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjûrokkei), series, which includes The Great Wave. The Art Institute owns three versions of this famous work, one of which [https://www.artic.edu/artworks/77333/under-the-wave-off-kanagawa-kanagawa-oki-nami-ura-also-known-as-the-great-wave-from-the-series-thirty-six-views-of-mount-fuji-fugaku-sanjurokkei] retains the pink sky that is faded in almost every other copy. The museum’s collection includes a total of nearly 600 works by Hokusai. Scholars have observed that Hokusai’s obsession with Mount Fuji was tied to his personal quest for immortality—the artist felt his artwork would transcend the divine, if only he could live long enough. He wrote that “at [age] one hundred and ten, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive.” Although he only lived to the age of about 90, his works have achieved true immortality through their widespread recognition.
Timeline
Born 1760 — Died 1849
1610s
Transmitting the Spirit, Revealing the Form of Things: Hokusai Sketchbooks, volume 11 (Denshin kaishu: Hokusai manga, jūichihen)
Random Sketches by Hokusai, Volumes 1 to 11
Transmitting the Spirit, Revealing the Form of Things: Hokusai Sketchbooks, volume 6 (Denshin kaishu: Hokusai manga, rokuhen)
Black Shōki, the Demon Queller
+2
1700s
1760s
1770s
1780s
1790s
1800s
No. 22: Okabe, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)"
Asuka Hill (Asukayama), from vol. 1 of the illustrated book "Fine Views of the Eastern Capital at a Glance (Toto shokei ichiran)"
Sanno Festival (Sanno matsuri), from vol. 1 of the illustrated book "Fine Views of the Eastern Capital at a Glance (Toto shokei ichiran)"
Sword Dancer
+164
1810s
1820s
The Suspension Bridge on the Border of Hida and Etchū Provinces (Hietsu no sakai tsuribashi), from the series Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran)
Fuji from Gotenyama at Shinagawa on the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Shinagawa Gotenyama no Fuji), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
Hodogaya on the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Hodogaya), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
Sazai Hall at the Temple of the Five Hundred Arhats (Gohyaku Rakanji Sazaidō), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
+317
1830s
Mishima Pass in Kai Province (Kōshū Mishima goe), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei
Fuji Seen from Kanaya on the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Kanaya no Fuji), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei
Poem by Sarumaru Dayu, from the series "One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)"
Hodogaya on the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Hodogaya), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
+88
1840s
1850s
![Picture Book of The Kōkyō [Ch. Xiao Qing], Canon of Filial Piety (Ehon kōkyō} 絵本孝経](https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/as/original/2013_738_a_b_a_06_crd.jpg)
1870s
1920s
Poem by Lady Akazome Emon Poem by Sosei Hoshi, from the series “One Hundred Poems Explained by a Wet Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)”
Poem by Sosei Hoshi, from the series “One Hundred Poems Explained by a Wet Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)”
Poem by Sōsei Hōshi, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)
Poem by Gon-Chunagon Masafusa (Oe no Masafusa), from the series “One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets Explained by a Wet Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)”
+4
