Born in Edo, like several famous contemporaries, Hokusai helped bring into renewed popularity the ancient Chinese art of woodblock printing, particularly in the vivid colors that had become popular at the end of the 18th century. His The Great Wave off Kanagawa print (from the series The Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji) has been internationally famous since its creation in 1831, when he was already 70. In his letters, he wrote of all the art of a lifetime’s achievement, stating that ” from fifty on, I began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. ” Yet in many ways he was an atypical Japanese artist of his time. As one source on Hokusai note:

“In a Japan of traditional Confucian values and feudal regimentation, Hokusai was a thoroughly Bohemian artist: cocky, quarrelsome, restless, aggressive, and sensational. He fought with his teachers and was often thrown out of art schools.” (Andreas.com).

Woodblock printing, also referred to as ukiyo-e, refers to the “floating world” of pre-industrial Nippon and was popular between the 17th and 20th centuries. The technology itself goes back to at least the third century AD and was imported from China.

Tokitari Hokusai was born to an artisan family in Edo in 1760. The sources suggest that his father was a mirror maker to the Shogun in Edo, so Hokusai would have grown up in the strong tradition of Japanese craftsmanship and patronage. It was in the very year of Hokusai's birth that that Japanese woodblock art began a strong transition from the largely uncolored prints of the 18th century into the glorious colored prints of the 19th, known as Nishiki-e.

From age 14 to 18, Hokusai was apprenticed to a woodcarver in Edo. He was then accepted into the popular studio of Katsukawa Shunsho, a ukikyo-e artist and head of the so-called Katsukawa School, where he would spend the next 19 years. He allegedly stormed away from the school after a quarrel, which supports the idea that he was a difficult and temperamental artist. In 1795, during a period of particular inspiration, he changed his name to Shunro and many art historians use his various name changes to document various periods in his creative life. Scholars estimate that Hosukai may have made as many as 30,000 studies in his 19 years at Katsukawa, studies of animals, humans, landscapes, insects; his curiosity was voracious.

Hokusai now began a period of association with the Tawaraya School and adopted the name Tawaraya Sori, working largely on the brush paintings known as surimono. He would continue to adopt different names as his artistic associations changed. In 1798 he became an independent artist and produced work under the name of Hokusai Tomisa, which he used until 1811. Aged 51, Hokusai changed his professional name to Taito and began a period of creating art manuals to encapsulate the art and innovations of his own lifetime. It was not until 1820, when he was 60 years old, that Hokusai began the series of prints that brought him first national, then international fame: Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji. A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces and Unusual Views of Celebrated Bridges in the Provinces. Landscape printing was relatively rare in Japan – the vast majority of earlier ukiyo-e art tended to portray the individual figures of Japanese men and women, musicians, and court ladies. Hokusai slightly preceded some of the later famous Japanese artists who specialized in landscapes and it is easy to overlook how his series on Mount Fuji was innovative both in technique and subject matter. Although 19th century Japan was largely turned in upon itself, many scholars believe that, in Edo, Hokusai had the opportunity to view European landscape painting from the 17th and 18th centuries, and managed to give a particular twist to the concept of long-distance landscapes that made his work unique.

One biography notes: Hokusai's most famous picture and easily Japan's most famous image is a seascape with Mt. Fuji. The waves form a frame through which we see Mt. Fuji in the distance. Hokusai loved to depict water in motion: the foam of the wave is breaking into claws which grasp for the fishermen. The large wave forms a massive yin to the yang of empty space under it. The impending crash of the wave brings tension into the painting. In the foreground, a small peaked wave forms a miniature Mt. Fuji, which is repeated hundreds of miles away in the enormous Mt. Fuji which shrinks through perspective; the wavelet is larger than the mountain. Instead of shoguns and nobility, we see tiny fishermen huddled into their sleek crafts as they slide down a seamount and dive straight into the wave to make it to the other side. The yin violence of Nature is counterbalanced by the yang relaxed confidence of expert fishermen. Oddly, though it's a sea storm, the sun is shining. (Andreas.com)

In 1834, Hokusai changed his name a final time, to Gakyo Rojin Manji (“Old Man Mad About Art”). A fervent Buddhist all his life, his very name embodies Buddhist concepts. Similarly, Mt. Fuji, which he painted so obsessively, had a long conceptual relationship with Buddhist concepts of eternal life. Hokusai is alleged to have said on his deathbed that, in another five years, he would have become a real painter, but after his death he became an icon for the delicate, natural woodprint art of the 19th century. As with many Japanese artists, he became more famous outside than inside Japan, and to the end of the century, European artists (including the Impressionists) collected and were influenced by his work.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia – Hokusai

"Viewing Japanese Prints: Hokusai

Andreas.com

Jim Breen's Ukiyo-E Gallery – Hokusai