1832 (ca.), Katsushika Hokusai, Fuji from beneath Mannen Bridge in Fukagawa, from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label to the series:
Comprising nearly every imaginable view of Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai's groundbreaking series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji—which actually encompasses forty-six prints total—confirmed landscape as an independent genre in ukiyo-e and was the pinnacle of the artist's successful career. An avid draftsman, curious student, and keen observer of the natural world, the artist trained under numerous masters and studied the few Western prints and paintings that were then available in Japan through trade with the Dutch.
Under the Wave off Kanagawa represents one of the most successful early fusions of traditional Japanese art with Western materials and compositional techniques, while Fuji in Clear Weather masterfully demonstrates bokashi—the skillful application of a gradation of ink by hand to a moistened woodblock. Many of the series' lesser-known prints are distinguished by the artist's sharp observations of routine daily activities contrasted with the beauty of nature.
1832 (ca.), Katsushika Hokusai, Fuji from beneath Mannen Bridge in Fukagawa, from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label to the series:
Comprising nearly every imaginable view of Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai's groundbreaking series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji—which actually encompasses forty-six prints total—confirmed landscape as an independent genre in ukiyo-e and was the pinnacle of the artist's successful career. An avid draftsman, curious student, and keen observer of the natural world, the artist trained under numerous masters and studied the few Western prints and paintings that were then available in Japan through trade with the Dutch.
Under the Wave off Kanagawa represents one of the most successful early fusions of traditional Japanese art with Western materials and compositional techniques, while Fuji in Clear Weather masterfully demonstrates bokashi—the skillful application of a gradation of ink by hand to a moistened woodblock. Many of the series' lesser-known prints are distinguished by the artist's sharp observations of routine daily activities contrasted with the beauty of nature.