What was Hokusai's style of painting?

Answer 1

Hokusai This article is about the Japanese artist. For the eponymous crater on Mercury, see Hokusai (crater).

Hokusai ( 北斎 )

Katsushika Hokusai, in an 1839 self-portrait Birth nameTokitarō

時太郎BornOctober 31, 1760 (exact date questionable)

Edo (present-day Tokyo), JapanDiedMay 10, 1849(1849-05-10) (aged 88)

Edo (present-day Tokyo), JapanNationalityJapaneseFieldPainting and Ukiyo-e Woodblock PrintingWorksThe Great WaveIn this Japanese name, the family name is "Katsushika".

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎?, October 31, 1760 (exact date questionable) - May 10, 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period.[1] He was influenced by such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting.[2] Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji(富嶽三十六景, Fugaku Sanjūroku-kei?, c. 1831) which includes the internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s.The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Hokusai's most famous print, the first in the series 36 Views of Mount Fuji

Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views" both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji.[3] It was this series, specifically The Great Waveprint and Fuji in Clear Weather, that secured Hokusai's fame both in Japan and overseas. As historian Richard Lane concludes, "Indeed, if there is one work that made Hokusai's name, both in Japan and abroad, it must be this monumental print-series...".[4] While Hokusai's work prior to this series is certainly important, it was not until this series that he gained broad recognition. In the West, the artist may be known for his woodblock print of The Great Wave off Kanagawa.[5]

Early life and artistic training:Hokusai's date of birth is not known for certain, but is often said to be the 23rd day of the 9th month of the 10th year of the Hōreki era (in the old calendar, or October 31, 1760) to an artisan family, in the Katsushika district of Edo, Japan.[6] His childhood name was Tokitarō.[7] It is believed his father was the mirror-maker Nakajima Ise, who produced mirrors for the shogun.[7] His father never made Hokusai an heir, so it is possible that his mother was a concubine.[6] Hokusai began painting around the age of six, possibly learning the art from his father, whose work on mirrors also included the painting of designs around the mirrors.[6]

Hokusai was known by at least thirty names during his lifetime. Although the use of multiple names was a common practice of Japanese artists of the time, the numbers of names he used far exceeds that of any other major Japanese artist. Hokusai's name changes are so frequent, and so often related to changes in his artistic production and style, that they are useful for breaking his life up into periods.[6]

At the age of 12, he was sent by his father to work in a bookshop and lending library, a popular type of institution in Japanese cities, where reading books made from wood-cut blocks was a popular entertainment of the middle and upper classes.[8] At 14, he became an apprentice to a wood-carver, where he worked until the age of 18, whereupon he was accepted into the studio of Katsukawa Shunshō. Shunshō was an artist of ukiyo-e, a style of wood block prints and paintings that Hokusai would master, and head of the so-called Katsukawa school.[7] Ukiyo-e, as practiced by artists like Shunshō, focused on images of the courtesans and Kabuki actors who were popular in Japan's cities at the time.[9]

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. During the decade he worked in Shunshō's studio, Hokusai was married to his first wife, about whom very little is known except that she died in the early 1790s. He married again in 1797, although this second wife also died after a short time. He fathered two sons and three daughters with these two wives, and his youngest daughter Sakae, also known as Ōi, eventually became an artist.[9]

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.[9] He was soon expelled from the Katsukawa school by Shunkō, the chief disciple of Shunshō, possibly due to studies at the rival Kanō school. This event was, in his own words, inspirational: "What really motivated the development of my artistic style was the embarrassment I suffered at Shunkō's hands."[4]

Hokusai also changed the subjects of his works, moving away from the images of courtesans and actors that were the traditional subjects of ukiyo-e. Instead, his work became focused on landscapes and images of the daily life of Japanese people from a variety of social levels. This change of subject was a breakthrough in ukiyo-e and in Hokusai's career.[9] Fireworks at Ryōgoku Bridge(1790) dates from this period of Hokusai's life

Answer 2

Hokusai used Mount Fuji as a backdrop in most of his artwork.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849) was a Japanese artist, painter and printmaker of the Edo period. Beginning in 1826, he created a set of woodblock prints called Fugaku Sanjūroku-kei(Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji) and later added a series of ten more prints, the last in 1833. He also did the larger landscape collection "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji".

Answer 3

He was an ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period.

The ukiyo-e style does not correspond to ant Western art styles.

Answer 4

he did woodblockprinting, illustarations using brushes