Title: Hokusai
1Hokusai Katsushika
Red Fuji from Hokusai's series, 36 Views of Mount
Fuji
2Hokusai Katsushika October or November 1760May
10, 1849
- Katsushika Hokusai (????) was a Japanese artist,
ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period.
- In his time he was Japan's leading expert on
Chinese painting.
- Hokusai is best-known for woodblock print series
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (1831) which
includes the iconic The Great Wave off Kanagawa,
(1820s he was 60) - Hokusai created 36 Views" both as a response to
a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal
obsession with Mount Fuji (Mount Fuji has
traditionally been linked with eternal life),
that secured Hokusais fame both within Japan and
overseas. - Hokusai was born to an artisan family, in the
Katsushika district of Edo, Japan
- Hokusai began painting around the age of six,
possibly learning the art from his father, whose
work on mirrors also included the painting of
designs around the mirrors. - Hokusai was known by at least 30 names during his
lifetime, more then any other major Japanese
artist. His name changes often related to changes
in his artistic production and style - By 1800, Hokusai adopted the name he would most
widely be known by, Katsushika (part of Edo where
he was born) Hokusai ('north studio'.).
- In 1800 Hokusai published two collections of
landscapes, Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital
and Eight Views of Edo. He also began to attract
students of his own, eventually teaching 50
pupils over the course of his life. - He became increasingly famous, both due to his
artwork and his talent for self-promotion. During
a Tokyo festival in 1804, he created a portrait
of the Buddhist priest Daruma said to be 600 feet
(180 m) long using a broom and buckets full of
ink. Another story places him in the court of the
Shogun Iyenari, invited there to compete with
another artist who practiced more traditional
brush stroke painting. Hokusai's painting,
created in front of the Shogun, consisted of
painting a blue curve on paper, then chasing a
chicken across it whose feet had been dipped in
red paint. He described the painting to the
Shogun as a landscape showing the Tatsuta River
with red maple leaves floating in it, winning the
competition - Hokusai transformed the art form from a style of
portraiture focused on the courtesans and actors
popular during the Edo Period into a much broader
style of art that focused on landscapes, plants,
and animals. - Impressionists, including Monet, Degas and
Toulouse-Lautrec, enthusiastically embraced
Hokusais work.
3- Courtesan
- Painting on silk.
- 1812-1821.
- Collection of Moshichi Yoshiara.
- The courtesan is almost buried the weight of her
luxuriously textured and detailed kimono.
- Hokusai pays attention to precision and detail
of the cloth.
- The important issue is the flattening of
surfaces and the use of color fields.
- This became a major influence on Western artists
in the late 1800s into the 1900s.
4Bushu Senju in Musashi Provence. (The Thirty-Six
Views of Mt. Fuji) 1823
5Hokusai Katsushika The Breaking Wave Off
Kanagawa. (The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji)
- The high point of Japanese prints. The original
is at the Hakone Museum in Japan. Hokusai's most
famous picture and easily Japan's most famous
image is a seascape with Mt. Fuji. - The waves form a frame through which we see Mt.
Fuji in the distance. Hokusai loved to depict
water in motion the foam of the wave is breaking
into claws which grasp for the fishermen - mans
vulnerability when faced with the power of
nature. The large wave forms a massive yin to the
yang of empty space under it. The impending crash
of the wave brings tension into painting. - In the foreground, a small peaked wave forms a
miniature Mt. Fuji, which is repeated hundreds of
miles away in the enormous Mt. Fuji which shrinks
through perspective the wavelet is larger than
the mountain. In contrast to the fury of the
ocean, Mt Fuji stands motionless and serene.
Instead of shoguns and nobility, we see tiny
fishermen huddled into their sleek crafts as they
slide down a wave and dive straight into the next
wave to get to the other side. The yin violence
of Nature is counterbalanced by the yang relaxed
confidence of expert fishermen. Although it's a
sea storm, the sun is shining. - To Westerners, this woodblock seems to be the
quintessential Japanese image, yet it's quite
un-Japanese. Traditional Japanese would have
never painted lower-class fishermen (at the time,
fishermen were one of the lowest and most
despised of Japanese social classes) Japanese
ignored nature they would not have used
perspective they wouldn't have paid much
attention to the subtle shading of the sky. We
like the woodblock print because it's familiar to
us. The elements of this Japanese pastoral
painting originated in Western art it includes
landscape, long-distance perspective, nature, and
ordinary humans, all of which were foreign to
Japanese art at the time. The Giant Wave is
actually a Western painting, seen through
Japanese eyes. - Hokusai didn't merely use Western art. He
transformed Dutch pastoral paintings by adding
the Japanese style of flattening and the use of
color surfaces as a element. By the the 1880's,
Japanese prints were the rage in Western culture
and Hokusai's prints were studied by young
European artists, such as Van Gogh and Whistler,
in a style called Japonaiserie. Thus Western
painting returned to the West. - The Great Wave is from Hokusai's later years.
6The Great Wave off Kanagawa (The Thirty-Six
Views of Mt. Fuji). 1823-1829
7Hokusai Katsushika Thunderstorm Beneath the
Summit . (The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji)
- This is a pure landscape, similar to Red Fuji in
composition.
- Hokusai offers a simplified image of Mt Fuji. Its
almost abstract form and composition capture the
essence of the mountain.
- In this simple, yet powerful, vision of Fuji, the
work is enhanced by the artists use of blues and
red-browns to create depth and shading.
- The lack of a human or animal form is unusual in
Japanese landscape. Thunderstom is purely a
landscape, evoking the mystery of nature.
- In this work Hokusai has darkened the foreground
around a dramatic lightning bolt.
- The artists Thirty-six Views of Mt Fuji feature
many different images of the mountain, in a
variety of seasonal conditions. Through these
images, Hokusai expresses the power of nature,
and, in doing so, questions the relationship of
man to the natural world.
8Thunderstorm at the foot of the mountain.(The
Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji)1823
9Mount Fuji seen from water wheel at Onden.
(The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji) 1825-29
10Hokusai Katsushika Viewing Sunset over Ryogoku
Bridge from the Ommaya Embankment. (The
Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji)
- This was one of a number of ferry crossings
between the Sumida bridges.
- By the time Hokusai began his Mt. Fuji series, he
was able to unify vast persepectives into calm
paintings.
- Here, a boatload of passangers gaze at Mt. Fuji,
in a quiet, plebian scene of ordinary people in
their daily life.
- This realism is Hokusai's unique contribution to
Japanese art. This print is from the 1840s, when
Hokusai was already in his 70s and fully
developed in his artistic skill. - Hokusai experiments with diverse styles mixed
Eastern tradition and Western techniques. To
achieve this mix, Hokusai simplified the formal
elements of composition, color and line.
11The sunset view across the Ryogoku bridge from
the bank of the Sumida River (The Thirty-Six Vi
ews of Mt. Fuji). 1823-1831
12Hokusai Katsushika In the Mountains of Totomi
Province. (The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji)
- The location was in what is now the western part
of Shizuoka
- Prefecture and shows a poor logging family, two
of whom are sawing planks from a huge log
supported by wood trestles.
- To the left another man is sharpening a saw.
- Smoke curles up from a fire and clouds encircle
Fuji.
- One of the finest designs from Hokusais most
famous series Fugaku sanju-rokkei, the
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. (published by
Eijudo c. 1830-32). - An exceptional example of this design, printed,
apart from light brown bokashi to the edge of the
smoke cloud, in aizuri, Prussian blue ( Japanese
berorin, ie Berlin blue, from the place of
manufacture ).
13In the Mountains of Totomi Province. (The
Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji). 1823
14Hokusai Katsushika Fuji seen from the second
floor of the Mitsui clothing store just north of
Nihonbashi . (The Thirty-Six Views of Mt.
Fuji)
- This was considered a fine spot to view a
snow-capped Fuji on New Year's Day
- Hokusai suggests New Year's Day with the kites
being flown.
- The signs on the gateposts, left and right,
state "Payment in cash" and "No padded prices."
- Mitsui clothing store just north of Nihonbashi
became the Mitsubishi department store of modern
times
15Fuji seen from the second floor of the Mitsui
clothing store just north of Nihonbashi. (The
Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji)
16Hokusai Katsushika Hodogaya on the Tokaido.
(The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji)
- Before the time of Hokusai the realistic
portrayal of a scene had not been a part of
traditional Japanese art. The use of perspective,
shading, and three-dimensional drawing, deriving
from European art had an undeniable impact on
non-traditional Japanese artists. They gradually
included these elements of expression in their
work. The use of realistic methods such as
Western perspective had an undeniable impact on
Japanese artists, especially of the Ukiyo-e
school. - In Hodogaya on the Tokaido Road, Mount Fuji is
seen through a screen of twisted pines, planted
to offer protection from the weather. In the
foreground a lively group of travellers make
their way from Edo, to the imperial capital,
Kyoto. - For Monet, a screen of trees framing a background
offered interesting compositional possibilities.
He explored these possibilities in his Poplar
series. Foreground and background are painted
with little indication of the space between them.
This seems to bring the background forward one
moment, then push it back the next, helping to
create a visually intriguing composition.
17Hodogaya on the Tokaido. (The Thirty-Six Views
of Mt. Fuji)
18Nobuto Ura, Bay of Noboto (The Thirty-Six Views
of Mt. Fuji).
19Shimomeguro, a rural village in Edo. (The
Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji). 1823
20The waterfall where Yoshitsun washed his horse
, Yoshino,
Yamato Provence 1832
21- The poet Li Po ( Japanese Ri Haku ) admiring the
Lo-shan Waterfall. (series of ten prints Shika
shashinyo, the Poets of China and Japan.)
- Doesnt interpret specific poems.
- Published c 1833.
- Li Po is shown in deep contemplation of the
waterfall, being held back from toppling over by
two small acolytes.
22- Fighting Cocks.
- Painting on silk.
- Hakone Museum.
- Hokusai also did freehand paintings on paper and
silk.
- Very few Japanese artists were able to work in
both woodblock and painting.
- Note the rooster's very proud and aggressive
stance.
23- Peonies and Canary
- Woodblock.
- National Museum at Tokyo.
- Before Hokusai, ukiyo-e artists such as Utamaro
and Kunsai drew birds and flowers as
illustrations in books.
- Hokusai was the first artist to make these
bird-and-flower artworks primarily as prints.
- 1833-1834
24Hokusai Katsushika Sangi Takamura. Women diving
for abalone. (Hundred Poems Explained by a
Nurse)
- Woodblock. National Museum, Tokyo.
- This is from the late 1840s.
- A group of women dive for abalone.
- Women at the lower left are interlaced through
waves and water.
25Sangi Takamura. Women diving for abalone.
(Hundred Poems Explained by a Nurse)