Hokusai pt1: Life & Times

 

Katsushika HOKUSAI:  The Great Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei) c. 1830-32

 

‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ is one of the most famous pieces of art ever made.  Even though it was made over 180 years ago, it has an enduring presence in popular culture that most famous works of art don’t; the closest comparible that comes to mind are some pieces by Andy Warhol.

Today’s post is the first of two profiling the creator of  ‘The Great Wave…’ Katsushika HOKUSAI.  We will start on a biography, while next time we will take a deeper look at some of his works.

Adrian, 11APR2016

Hokusai was born in Edo (Tokyo), in 1760 as Tokitaro Kawamura.   Over his 90 year life he became a prolific artist across a number of mediums. We don’t know a lot about his life, however here some of the points that have endured are:  

• Hokusai’s parents died when he was young, he went to live with an Aunt and Uncle. There he was trained by the Uncle to follow his steps as a brass mirror polisher for the shogun.

• One of his first jobs was in a book lending library, where he worked as an apprentice carver and printer at age 14.

• He is known to have worked under at least 27 different names. At one point he retired, and when he later returned to work there was already someone using the name Hokusai, so he started signing his work the artist formerly known as Hokusai.

• It is rumoured that Hokusai moved 93 times during his life! 

• Later in life he was helped by his daughter, Katsushika Ōi
  an excellent artist in her own right.   The painting below is one of my favorites.

Katsushika ŌI: Night Scene in Yoshiwara

•  There are accounts of Hokusai performing in front of large audiences: he and his students would paint a giant mural, three stories hight, while the crowd watched. As was demonstrated in the 2015 movie: Miss Hokusai. (shown below).

 

Hokusai: ’Man Mad about Drawing’

When researching Hokusai you get the sense that he was compulsed to be creative, ‘Man Mad about Drawings’ was a moniker he gave himself. His dying words are recorded as “If Heaven will grant me but ten more years of life… with even five more years- I could become a truly great artist.”

In addition to the prints he made, he produced reams of work in other mediums:

 ‘Quick lessons in Simplified Drawing’

Hoksuai Manga (above & below), over 15 volumes of Hoksuai’s sketches were published between 1814- 1878

Katsushika HOKUSAI: Dragon and Snake. 1804- 1818.

Hokusai was also known to paint designs on lantern’s made for festivals.

Katsushika HOKUSAI: Phoenix. 1835

Katsushika HOKUSAI: Dance of the Gods at the Heavenly Cave.  1808- 1813  (above & below)

This is an example of Tatebanko (dioramas made of paper), 

Next time we will look at the prints!