Hokusai
Hokusai was born on the 31st of October 1760 in the Katsushika district of Edo. His father worked as a mirror-maker for the shogun, and his childhood name was Tokitaro. He began painting around age six, likely learning from his father's designs on mirrors. At twelve years old, he started working in a bookshop and lending library where woodcut books were popular entertainment. By fourteen, he apprenticed under a woodcarver until he entered the studio of Katsukawa Shunsho at eighteen. Shunsho led the Katsukawa school which focused on images of courtesans and kabuki actors.
The artist known mononymously as Hokusai used at least thirty different names during his lifetime. These frequent changes marked distinct periods in his career and reflected shifts in his artistic production. After one year in Shunsho's studio, he received the name Shunro and published his first prints of kabuki actors in 1779. Following Shunsho's death in 1793, Hokusai explored European styles through French and Dutch copper engravings. He was expelled from the Katsukawa school by Shunko, an event that motivated him to develop his own style. He moved away from traditional subjects like courtesans to focus on landscapes and daily life.
Hokusai created the monumental series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji as a response to domestic travel booms in Japan. The series includes the iconic print The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Fine Wind Clear Morning. These works secured his fame both within Japan and overseas. The Great Wave uses western perspective techniques to represent depth and volume. Ten additional prints were added later due to the series' immense popularity. Other popular series from this period include A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces and Oceans of Wisdom.
In 1811 at age fifty-one, Hokusai changed his name to Taito and began creating art manuals called etehon. The first volume of Manga meaning random drawings was published in 1814 and became an immediate success. By 1820 he had produced twelve volumes containing thousands of drawings of objects plants animals religious figures and everyday people. These manuals served as a convenient way to make money and attract students. The sketches often featured humorous overtones and demonstrated his exceptional drawing technique.
A fire destroyed Hokusai's studio and much of his work in 1839 when he was seventy-nine years old. At age eighty-three he traveled to Obuse in Shinano Province at the invitation of a wealthy farmer named Takai Kozan. During his stay he created masterpieces including the Masculine Wave and the Feminine Wave. Between 1842 and 1843 he painted Chinese lions every morning as daily exorcisms against misfortune. He continued working almost until his death on the 10th of May 1849 painting The Dragon of Smoke Escaping from Mt Fuji and Tiger in the Snow.
Hokusai influenced European artists during the wave of Japonism that spread across Europe in the late nineteenth century. French printmaker Felix Bracquemond discovered a copy of a Hokusai sketchbook around 1856 and designed the Rousseau Service dinnerware based on it. Artists like Claude Monet Pierre-Auguste Renoir Edgar Degas Paul Gauguin Gustav Klimt and Vincent van Gogh collected his woodcuts. Composer Claude Debussy believed his tone poem La Mer debuted in 1905 was inspired by The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Richard Lane characterized him in 1985 as having impressed Western artists more than any other single Asian artist since the later nineteenth century.
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Common questions
When and where was Hokusai born?
Hokusai was born on the 31st of October 1760 in the Katsushika district of Edo. His father worked as a mirror-maker for the shogun, and his childhood name was Tokitaro.
How many different names did Hokusai use during his lifetime?
The artist known mononymously as Hokusai used at least thirty different names during his lifetime. These frequent changes marked distinct periods in his career and reflected shifts in his artistic production.
What series includes The Great Wave off Kanagawa?
Hokusai created the monumental series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji as a response to domestic travel booms in Japan. Ten additional prints were added later due to the series' immense popularity.
Why did Hokusai change his name to Taito in 1811?
In 1811 at age fifty-one, Hokusai changed his name to Taito and began creating art manuals called etehon. The first volume of Manga meaning random drawings was published in 1814 and became an immediate success.
Where did Hokusai create The Masculine Wave and The Feminine Wave?
At age eighty-three he traveled to Obuse in Shinano Province at the invitation of a wealthy farmer named Takai Kozan. During his stay he created masterpieces including the Masculine Wave and the Feminine Wave.
Which European artists collected woodcuts by Hokusai?
Artists like Claude Monet Pierre-Auguste Renoir Edgar Degas Paul Gauguin Gustav Klimt and Vincent van Gogh collected his woodcuts. Richard Lane characterized him in 1985 as having impressed Western artists more than any other single Asian artist since the later nineteenth century.