Katsushika Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai was born 1760 and died 1849. He was one of the most influential Ukiyo e printmakers during the Edo period. He created numerous prints, one such being the Iconic “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”. He innovated Ukiyo-e, concerting a art form that used to be used on portraits into an artform that covered a large range of subjects such as animals,.plants, landscapes etc.
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Outside of Ukiyo-e, Hokusai also worked in other artistic mediums such as painting, designing illustrations, sketches and others. Over his career, he has created over 30,000 works of art.
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NOTE: Ukiyo-e process is described in Utagawa Kuniyoshi Artist Reaserch
WORKS Small Selection
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Great Wave Off Kanagawa
The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print created by Katsushika Hokusai between 1829 and 1833, estimated to be published 1831. It was published in the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”. It was created using the Ukiyo-e technique/style.
The art form used was Ukiyo-e. A description of the steps, methods/techniques have been described in the Utagawa kuniyoshi artist research already. However, for this piece, Hokusai created multiple iterations, the first was “Spring at Enoshima” 1797, then “View of Honmuku off Hanagawa” 1803, and then “Cargo Boat Passing through Waves” 1805. With each print, the waves became more and more like The great Wave off Kanagawa, the waves becoming more fierce and stylised with each piece.
The aspect of this work (Great Wave) that I like the most is the way the waves have been stylised, and this is the aspect i would like to incorporate into my work if i create a design related to water.
Transcript
I used yellow watercolor as a backgroiund and layered colors on top. However, i accidentally also covered the areas that were supposed to be white.