Hokusai, painter of the floating world

Meet the artist whose majestic breaking wave sent ripples across the world.Hokusai(17601849) is not only one of thegiants of Japanese artand a legend of the Edo period, but also afounding father of Western modernism, whose prolific gamut of prints, illustrations, paintings, and beyond forms one of the most comprehensive oeuvres ofukiyo-eart and a benchmark ofjaponisme. His influence spread through Impressionism, Art Nouveau, and beyond, enrapturing the likes of Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, and Vincent van Gogh.

Hokusai was always a man on the move. He changed domicile more than 90 times during his lifetime and changed his own name through over 30 pseudonyms. In his art, he adopted the same restlessness,covering the complete spectrum of Japaneseukiyo–e,pictures of the floating world, from single-sheet prints of landscapes and actors toerotic books. In addition, he createdalbum prints, illustrationsfor verse anthologies and historical novels, andsurimono, which were privately issued prints for special occasions.

Hokusais print seriesThirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji,published betweenc. 1830 and 1834 is the artists most renowned work and, with its soaring peak through different seasons and from different vantage points, marked the towering summit of the Japanese landscape print. The seriesUnder the Wave off Kanagawa,also known simply asThe Great Wave, is one of themost recognized images of Japanese art in the world.