Description
Katsushika Hokusai ( 葛飾北斎?): 1760 - 1849.
The Great Wave of Kanagawa (神奈川沖浪裏) is the best-known work of the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji ( 富嶽三十六景). It is actually a series of forty-six prints made by Hokusai. They represent Mount Fuji according to the seasons and from different places. This series is very famous today because it marks the integration of Japanese tradition into Western modes of representation (in particular it uses the principles of Western perspective). This print is considered one of the best-known Japanese works.
During his 70-year career, he produced a considerable body of work of some 3,000 color prints, illustrations for more than 200 books, more than 30,000 drawings and more than 1,000 paintings, earning him the nickname “Old Madman for Drawing”.
The discovery of his prints constituted a major aesthetic shock for European artists at the end of the 19th century . His work influenced many French and even European artists from the Japonism artistic movement.
