Text by Sarah E. Thompson, Joan Wright, Philip Meredith.
Hokusai’s paper lanterns, games and paper toys show him to be an ingenious master of materials
Katsushika Hokusai remains one of Japan's most popular and influential artists. This handy volume presents the wide range of Hokusai's artistic production in terms of one of his most remarkable characteristics: his intellectual ingenuity. It explores the question of how the self-styled "Man Mad about Drawing" approached his subjects—how he depicted human bodies in motion, combined figures and landscapes, represented three-dimensional objects on two-dimensional surfaces and when he used the techniques of illusionism or adjusted reality for greater visual or emotional effect. Including some 50 stunning and unusual paintings, prints and drawings from the peerless Hokusai collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this book is a treasure trove that introduces readers to a witty, wide-ranging and inimitably ingenious Hokusai.
Known by at least 30 other names during his lifetime, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) was an ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. In 1800, he published his two classic collections of landscapes, Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital and Eight Views of Edo. His influence extended to his Western contemporaries in nineteenth-century Europe, including Degas, Gauguin, Klimt, Franz Marc, August Macke, Manet and van Gogh.
Hokusai, "Woman Looking at Herself in a Mirror", ca. 1805, is reproduced from Hokusai.
At last, Hokusai! Featured image, "The Falling Mist Waterfall at Mount Kurokami in Shimotsuke Province" (circa 1832), is reproduced from MFA Publications' wonderful catalog to the major new Hokusai show at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, reviewed last week in the Boston Globe. Sebastian Smee writes, "Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) had everything you could want from an artistic genius, in any epoch, anywhere: a masterpiece as well-known as the Mona Lisa (in the form of “Under the Wave off Kanagawa,” a.k.a. “The Great Wave”), a glint of madness and mayhem in his eyes, even multiple pseudonyms. But beyond all this, and over and above his virtuosity, inventiveness, range, and infectious sense of mischief, what this artist most forcefully conveys is appetite." continue to blog
There is not now, and there never will be, a more ingenious, natural printmaker than the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japanese master, Hokusai. His 1823 woodblock print "Stone (Ishi)"—one of three prints based on the children's hand game of rock-paper-scissors—is reproduced from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston's concise new catalogue to the current, deeply extensive Hokusai show, which features 230 artworks made over the course of seven decades. One of our recommended Mother's Day gift books, this volume gives special attention to Hokusai's important prints, Manga drawings, paintings, lanterns and rare models for paper toys. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 7.5 x 10 in. / 176 pgs / 135 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $29.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $39.95 GBP £20.00 ISBN: 9780878468256 PUBLISHER: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston AVAILABLE: 5/26/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Text by Sarah E. Thompson, Joan Wright, Philip Meredith.
Hokusai’s paper lanterns, games and paper toys show him to be an ingenious master of materials
Katsushika Hokusai remains one of Japan's most popular and influential artists. This handy volume presents the wide range of Hokusai's artistic production in terms of one of his most remarkable characteristics: his intellectual ingenuity. It explores the question of how the self-styled "Man Mad about Drawing" approached his subjects—how he depicted human bodies in motion, combined figures and landscapes, represented three-dimensional objects on two-dimensional surfaces and when he used the techniques of illusionism or adjusted reality for greater visual or emotional effect. Including some 50 stunning and unusual paintings, prints and drawings from the peerless Hokusai collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this book is a treasure trove that introduces readers to a witty, wide-ranging and inimitably ingenious Hokusai.
Known by at least 30 other names during his lifetime, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) was an ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. In 1800, he published his two classic collections of landscapes, Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital and Eight Views of Edo. His influence extended to his Western contemporaries in nineteenth-century Europe, including Degas, Gauguin, Klimt, Franz Marc, August Macke, Manet and van Gogh.
