Japanese Art
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Hokusai was born in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1760 to an artisan family. His father, Nakajima Issai, was a mirror-maker. At age eighteen, after some practice as a wood-engraver, he entered the studio of Katsugawa Shunsho, a painter and designer of color prints. His disregard for the artistic principles of his master caused his expulsion in 1785.
Between 1796 and 1802 he produced perhaps as many as 30,000 book illustrations and color prints. He often drew inspiration from the Japanese ordinary life, traditions and legends. In 1824 he published the book New Forms for Design, and his designs have inspired many Sashiko quilting patterns. Hokusai's most typical wood-block prints, silskscreens, and landscape paintings were done between 1830 and 1840.
Although from time to time Hokusai studied various styles, he maintained stylistic independence thereafter. For a time he lived in extreme poverty, and, although he must have gained sums for his work which might have secured him comfort, he remained poor, and to the end of his life proudly described himself as a peasant.
He was an eager student to the end of his long life, and said on his deathbed, "If Heaven had lent me but five years more, I would have become a great painter." He died on May 10, 1849.
After his death, copies of some of his woodblock prints were sent to the West, and along with the works of other ukiyo-e artists, influenced such Western masters as Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.
