Katsushika hokusai biography summary forms

Within the curl of the wave, you can see fishermen in boats trying to stay afloat without being capsized. Fuji is in the background as just a small image centered within the curl of the wave on one side, and a boat precariously close to being tossed over on the other side. Katsushika Hokusai had a self-described mania about depicting things he saw in daily life.

He was restless and therefore constantly sketched what he saw. Whether it was people, places, or landscapes, Hokusai developed a style unique to himself at the time. He made his own path in his style of ukiyo-e, away from the common depictions of famous actors, courtesans and idealistic scenery. Instead he began to depict real life and real landscapes using his religious beliefs and his own artistic abilities as a medium in his artwork.

At this point in his career, his popularity had already begun to wane as he was replaced with other budding artists with different styles. He still continued to paint and improve in his craft until his death. He was quoted on his deathbed saying that if heaven would just give him ten more years, even just five more years, then perhaps he could become a real painter.

He died on May 18, , and was laid to rest in his native city of Tokyo. Born into the family of the mirror-maker Nakajima Ise, in the Katsushika district of Edo now Tokyo , in the 10th year of the Tokugawa period, he started to paint at the age of six, after learning the art from his father, whose work included the painting of decorative designs on the mirrors and their frames.

From , he was apprenticed to a master of wood-carving , after which he entered the workshop of Katsukawa Shunsho, a specialist in ukiyo printmaking - a new and popular type of brightly coloured woodblock printing - and leader of the so-called Katsukawa school. At this point, Ukiyo-e, as practiced by artists like Shunsho and the young Hokusai, concentrated on pictures of scenes from the Kabuki theatre, as well as courtesans, geisha and other popular figures of everyday city life.

In about , Hokusai left the Katsukawa school and began investigating other styles of painting, including Dutch Baroque works and compositions by French Baroque artists , which he had encountered in the form of copper engraving. At the same time, he changed the subject matter of his painting, switching from pictures of courtesans and Kibuki actors to landscape painting and genre painting.

About He began associating with the Tawaraya School, and produced numerous brush paintings surimono , as well as various types of illustration for books of poetry kyoka ehon and calendars. He also began producing a series of pictures of elegant, beautiful women bijinga. In , at the age of 38, Hokusai decided to start up as an independent painter and printmaker, free from any ties to a school, and, within a short while, adopted the name he is remembered by today, Katsushika Hokusai.

Independent Painter and Ukiyo-e Artist Over the next 20 years, Hokusai established himself as one of Japan's most innovative artists, enriching his style of Ukiyo-e with eclectic elements from Chinese art as well as Western painting. He also made a thorough study of works by classical Japanese and Chinese painters. Hokusai became extremely poor because of this, and was said to have been trying to sell his drawings in the streets.

Along with many other people, he left Edo and fled to the countryside. From then on he would dedicate his main efforts to painting. Hokusai was one of the most highly valued artists of his time. He was very popular among the public and proved to be greatly influential, in Japan as well as in the West. Classical Asian perspective depicted things higher up to show that they were at a distance.

Time was also determined in Western art, but Japanese art had a more fluid sense of time, which included multiple dimensions. Dutch merchants were allowed two trading ships per year. This was practically the only direct connection between Edo and Europe. Provided they had no trace of Christianity, Western books and pictures were embraced in Edo.

The Japanese had been familiar with the vanishing point since the s. Its arrival had not been exalted there as it had been in Renaissance Europe. Instead, the Japanese saw it as a novelty. They used the amusing optical illusion for stage sets and toys. The lowbrow images of Ukiyo-e took to European perspective in the s. By the early s, Hokusai had responded to the high demand for these perspective pictures with a number of small prints exploring Western perspectives.

Hokusai art depicted Edo through a Dutch lens by simultaneously imitating shading, depth, and linear perspective characteristic of European art and violating it to incorporate the classical Asian system. During the Edo Period, the Japanese were self-sufficient but they enjoyed exotic goods. A new pigment would have been very interesting to Japanese artists.

In one such synthetic blue was invented in Germany. The Japanese called it Berlin blue but we know it as Prussian blue. It was initially imported to Japan by Dutch traders but in the late s, the Chinese began importing too, making it much more affordable. This made it possible to use Prussian blue in Ukiyo-e prints. Colour woodblock-printed triptych depicting a group of courtesans from Shin-Yoshiwara district playing music on the upper floor of a restaurant overlooking Sumida River; Nanabito playing the koto and Sugatano playing the kokyu, accompanied by lower-rank prostitutes and apprentices.

With Prussian blue, and little red on lips. Designed by Keisai Eise and printed by Tsutaya Kichizo, c.

Katsushika hokusai biography summary forms

Compared to previous blues, Prussian blue had a greater tonal range but the pigment was especially popular because it did not fade as earlier blues did. Earlier Ukiyo-e prints rarely used blue because earlier blues faded sometimes within weeks. The drastic change in color was the result of Ukiyo-e artists being able to explore for the first time, painting the sky, mountains, and water with an improved blue color.

The Dutch who were fully aware that Hokusai was an innovator, awarded him a big commission for a series of paintings showing typical scenes of Japanese in when he was already in his 60s. He executed these works through his hybrid Japanese European style and the newfound blue. While landscape prints were still not as lucrative as the kubuki Ukiyo-e prints in the late 18th century, sales would increase as a result of an increase in domestic travel within Japan.

The merchants, pilgrims, and pleasure seekers who visited Mount Fuji created a need for a new genre of souvenirs in the form of woodblock prints of Japanese mountains art. Hokusai artworks offered a new window into Japanese landscapes and people. The first five prints in the series were printed almost entirely in shades of Prussian blue, including a bit of indigo.

Everything including the outlines which were usually printed in black was turned to blue. Mount Fuji is the highest peak on the Japanese island though it is not a mountain, but an active volcano. It had long been considered a deity with over shrines dedicated to it. It was also a site for religious pilgrimages. The belief was that the mountain was a source of immortality and a seat for the gods.

It represented stability and strength for Japan, which was still enmeshed in its own culture and made Japanese mountains art central. In the idyllic series of block prints entitled Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji , Hokusai indulges from almost every angle his obsession with this sacred landmark. Across 36 landscapes Mount Fuji shows up through the clouds, above the city, and on the horizon.

Hokusai was interested in the relationship between human activity and the mountain. He depicted people in the landscape, traveling, getting their hats blown off by the wind, or working the land. In one of the scenes, travelers are caught in a thunderstorm. A lightning flash at the back of the picture causes a strobe-light effect in the dark thunderous sky.

The color woodblock print The Great Wave produced roughly prints. The mass-produced poster-size prints were affordable and accessible, thanks to the democratic art form of Ukiyo-e. This print is viewed as a quintessentially Japanese image, but it is a hybrid of Japanese and European styles. Hokusai arranged the picture so that Mount Fuji which is in the middle of the composition, and the highest point in Japan appears dwarfed by the humungous wave in the foreground.

There is a dynamic movement of the claw-like figures of the wave, which occupies two-thirds of the image. The foam from The Great Wave descends onto the mountain like snow falling onto the peak of Mount Fuji which remains covered all year round. The Great Wave captures a distilled moment as this wave is about to crash down onto the three fragile boats beneath.

Tossed about in the waves the three fast delivery boats are attempting to deliver a catch of live fish from a fishing fleet to the markets in Edo. His earlier attempts at waves like Cargo Boat Passing Through Waves , showing a big wave about to hit a boat, and another print, Spring at Enoshima , which depicts a wave breaking at the beach, were fairly static in comparison.