Katsushika Hokusai
Looking at the vince’s ear Artists page, an obvious pattern can be seen- it’s all Western art. A couple American, but mostly European artists have been talked about here which include many of my favorite artists, such as the Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. A wealth of great art can be found in the histories of other parts of the world, and it’s about time we explored some of the artists of the Eastern Hemisphere. Tonight’s spotlight is on Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai.
You can’t say “Katsushika” without saying “sushi,” which happens to be my favorite food but that’s not why I like him so much. He is, among many other things, the creator of one of my favorite pieces of Japanese art which you might recognize, “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa,” also known as the “Well of the Great Wave,” seen above. This is part of a series called the 36 views of Mount Fuji. That’s it in the background, barely visible under the monstrous tidal wave about to engulf the helpless sailors.
This series is done in traditional ukiyo-e, or woodblock painting and printing, a style that had been around since the 17th century. It actually consists of 46 woodcuts, the last 10 added after publication, and shows views of the mountain in varying weather and seasons, and from different vantage points. Hokusai created this series in response to an international tourist boom of the early 19th century and also because he loved Mount Fuji so much. Regardless of reason, the 36 Views would give him international recognition and fame.
Aside from the Fuji paintings, which he did a second series called the 100 views of Mount Fuji, another of his important works is the Hokusai Manga. This is the largest of his works and spans across 15 volumes with over 4,000 illustrations. Some consider it the beginning of modern manga, or comics, but in actuality Hokusai’s illustrations are mostly simply depictions of random people and animals, and not storylines with words as manga is today.
Another famous work by the Japanese master is the Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife, an example or erotica which introduced the tentacle eroticism found so often in hentai. But that, folks, is another story.
Technorati Tags: hentai, Japanese, art, ukiyo-e, mount fuji, manga
by Tom Humes, on February 28 2008 @ 19:19
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes