Katsushika Hokusai known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. Born in Tokyo, Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji which includes the internationally iconic print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Hokusai was known by at least thirty names during his lifetime. While the use of multiple names was a common practice of Japanese artists of the time. At the age of 12, his father sent him to work in a bookshop and lending library, a popular institution in Japanese cities, where reading books made from woodcut blocks was a popular entertainment of the middle and upper classes.
At 14, he worked as an apprentice to a woodcarver, until the age of 18, when he entered the studio of Katsukawa Shunshō. After a year, Hokusai's name changed for the first time, when he was dubbed Shunrō by his master. It was under this name that he published his first prints, a series of pictures of kabuki actors published in 1779.
Fine Wind, Clear Morning
Upon the death of Shunshō in 1793, Hokusai began exploring other styles of art, including European styles he was exposed to through French and Dutch copper engravings he was able to acquire. He had adopted the name he would most widely be known by, Katsushika Hokusai, the former name referring to the part of Edo where he was born. He became increasingly famous over the next decade, both due to his artwork and his talent for self-promotion.
During an Edo festival in 1804, he created an enormous portrait of the Buddhist prelate Daruma, said to be 200 square meters, using a broom and buckets full of ink. In 1807, Hokusai collaborated with the popular novelist Takizawa Bakin on a series of illustrated books. Especially popular was the fantasy novel Chinsetu Yumiharizuki (Strange Tales of the Crescent Moon) with Minamoto no Tametomo as the main character.
Kajikazawa in Kai Province
In 1811, at the age of 51, Hokusai changed his name to Taito and entered the period in which he created the Hokusai Manga and various etehon, or art manual. These manuals beginning in 1812 with Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing. In 1820, Hokusai changed his name yet again, this time to "Iitsu," a change which marked the start of a period in which he secured fame as an artist throughout Japan. His most celebrated work, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, including the famous Great Wave off Kanagawa and Red Fuji was produced in the early 1830s.
Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit
In 1839, a fire destroyed Hokusai's studio and much of his work. At the age of 83, Hokusai traveled to Obuse in Shinano Province at the invitation of a wealthy farmer, Takai Kozan where he stayed for several years. The next period, beginning in 1834, saw Hokusai working under the name "The Old Man Mad About Art". It was at this time that he produced One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, another significant series.