Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai drew for more than seventy years – and with the “Great Wave” created what may be the best-known image of Japan.

Life

Born in Edo in 1760, he trained as a woodblock carver and with the print master Katsukawa Shunshō. He changed his artist’s name more than thirty times and moved house dozens of times. With the “Hokusai Manga”, sketchbooks full of people, animals and mythical creatures, he became widely known. Around 1831, past the age of seventy, “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” appeared. He worked until his death in 1849 and is said to have wished for a few more years to become a true painter.

Style & technique

Hokusai combined Japanese tradition with Western perspective, which he knew from Dutch prints. He played with scale: Mount Fuji becomes tiny behind a giant wave. For his landscapes he used the new, lightfast Prussian blue. His lines are lively and precise, full of humour and movement.

Look closely

  • Mount Fuji: in each view it hides in a different place – find it.
  • The blue: Prussian blue gives water and sky their depth.
  • The people: small, busy, often comic – they bring the picture to life.

Timeline

  • 1760: Born in Edo.
  • 1779: First published prints under the name Shunrō.
  • 1814: First volume of the “Hokusai Manga”.
  • c. 1831: “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”, including the “Great Wave”.
  • 1849: Dies in Edo.

Works in the museum