Hokusai

=Hokusai= By: Elise Vice and Ben Trouvais

Life of Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist in the Edo period. He was born on September 23, 1760 in Edo. While history remembers him as Hokusai, the famous artist actually had over 30 seperate names that he used. While it is common for famous Japanese people, especially artists and other important cultural figures, the amount of pseudonyms he had was way more than any other figure of his time. Hokusai begain painting around the age of six. He learned from his father, who was a mirror-maker. When he made the mirrors, he had to paint designs around the edges, too. At the age of 14, Hokusai became an apprentice to a wood-carver. He worked for the wood-carver until he was accepted into the studio of Katsukawa Shunsho at 18. Sunsho was a ukiyo-e artist, which means he used woodblocks and focused mainly on painting Kabuki actors. As time went on, Hokusai slowly changed his style of art. He began painting landscapes and people. Hokusai's first publication was off a kabuki actor in 1779. Over the next two decades, Hokusai would marry twice and have five children, one of which, one of his three daughters, would become an artist. It was after Shunsho's death in 1793 that allowed Hokusai to explore many other forms of art, some of which were European styles of drawing and painting on canvas, instead of paper. From this point of his life untill his death in 1849, Hokusai would publish a countless number of magnificent publications. Two of these publications, Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji and The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, would become world-wide known and would be the highlights of his artistic career.

Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji and The Great Wave Off Kanagawa
These two works of art, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji and The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, were the highlights of Hokusai and would become known by almost everyone in the world. For starters. Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji was a collection of work done by Hokusai featuring Mt. Fuji in the background. The collection of pictures were done on wood, and then were pressed into the paper to create an image. This was done, primarily to be able to replicate each picture without having to physically redraw each one. This made mass production much easier, especially when Hokusai's work was done in a sort of book-style. In each picture, the foreground shows something different; these could range from houses, to people walking, and even to barren fields. While the foreground of each picture changed, Mt. Fuji would always be seen in the background. Typically, the angle of the mountain the viewers see is different. Despite the fact the book is called Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, there are, in reality, 46 pictures. This is because Hokusai added 10 more pictures after the original publication

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa features a massive wave that appears to be capsizing boats in the middle of the water. This picture is also one of Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, so the mountain can be seen behind the wave. This piece is regarded as Hokusai's most famous work, and it has been sold all over the world.

Impact On Japanese Culture
Hokusai has had many affects on the culture of Japan. For starters, Hokusai introduced an artistic style to Japan that they had never seen before. Hokusai entertained the Japanese people with his work, and many of his pieces became an influence to the way the people lived and thought. It is almost impossible to tour Japan without seeing one of Hokusai's pieces or a piece that was influenced by his work. Hokusai also spread the Japanese art style to the far reaches of the world, showing people about the Japanese culture. These contributions have drasticaly altered everyone everywhere, and has influenced not only the Japanese culture but also the culture of many other countries, including America.