While the use of multiple names was a common practice of Japanese artists of the time, his number of pseudonyms exceeds that of any other major Japanese artist. Hokusai was known by at least thirty names during his lifetime. Hokusai began painting around the age of six, perhaps learning from his father, whose work included the painting of designs around mirrors. His father never made Hokusai an heir, so it is possible that his mother was a concubine. It is believed his father was Nakajima Ise, a mirror-maker for the shōgun. Hokusai's date of birth is unclear, but is often stated as the 23rd day of the 9th month of the 10th year of the Hōreki era (in the old calendar, or 31 October 1760) to an artisan family, in the Katsushika district of Edo, the capital of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate. Innovative in his compositions and exceptional in his drawing technique, Hokusai is considered one of the greatest masters in the history of art.įireworks in the Cool of Evening at Ryogoku Bridge in Edo, print, c. In a long and successful career, Hokusai produced over 30,000 paintings, sketches, woodblock prints, and images for picture books in total. Starting as a young child, he continued working and improving his style until his death, aged 88. Hokusai was best known for his woodblock ukiyo-e prints, but he worked in a variety of mediums including painting and book illustration. It was this series, specifically, The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Fine Wind, Clear Morning, that secured his fame both in Japan and overseas.

Hokusai created the monumental Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji as a response to a domestic travel boom in Japan and as part of a personal interest in Mount Fuji. Hokusai was instrumental in developing ukiyo-e from a style of portraiture largely focused on courtesans and actors into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals. He is best known for the woodblock print series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, which includes the iconic print The Great Wave off Kanagawa. 31 October 1760 – ), known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker.

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