HOKUSAI

"32"L x 19"H x5"D - - - $7500

handcrafted and hand painted

Hokusai was born on the 23rd day of 9th month of the 10th year of the Horeki period (October or November 1760) to an artisan family, in the Katsushika district of Edo, Japan. His childhood name was Tokitaro. It is believed his father was the mirror-maker Nakajima Ise, who produced mirrors for the shogun. His father never made Hokusai an heir, so it's possible that his mother was a concubine. 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.

Hokusai was known by at least 30 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.

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. 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 Shunsho. Shunsho 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. Ukiyo-e, as practiced by artists like Shunsho, focused on images of the courtesans and Kabuki actors who were popular in Japan's cities at the time.

During his early career, Hokusai was a leading designer in dioramas, made as toys for children. He also created many board games, which often featured small landscape designs. These works perhaps mark the start of his journey towards the many unique landscape compositions he created, still famous today. Among various illustrated publications, between 1814–19 Hokusai also created a series of images for aspiring artists to copy. These works were compiled into a best-selling book titled Hokusai Manga, and document one of the earliest forms of Manga art.

Despite being extremely productive, and often painting from sunrise to sunset, Hokusai had a series of personal setbacks during the middle of his career. Both of his wives and two children died before him, at 50 he was struck by lightning, and during his 60s he suffered a stroke that required him to relearn his art. He was also forced to pay off his grandson’s gambling debts, leaving him in financial straits for the rest of his life. This series of dire events lead Hokusai to turn to what he loved best, and he began his famous series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, which included The Great Wave off Kanagawa in 1830.