Hokusai

Hokusai

Meet the artist whose majestic wave sent ripples across the world. Hokusai, master artist and printmaker, is not only one of the giants of Japanese art but a father figure to Western modernism, inspiring a whole new notion of space for artists from Monet to Morisot, Cassatt to Klimt. Spanning erotic books, historical novels, and album prints, this introduction traces the full scope of Hokusai’s far-reaching portfolio.

Meet the artist whose majestic breaking wave sent ripples across the world. Hokusai (1760–1849) is not only one of the giants of Japanese art and a legend of the Edo period, but also significantly influenced Western modernism, whose prolific gamut of prints, illustrations, paintings, and beyond forms one of the most comprehensive oeuvres of ukiyo-e art and a benchmark of japonisme. 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.

This TASCHEN introduction spans the length and breadth of Hokusai’s career with key pieces from his far-reaching portfolio. Through these meticulous, majestic works and series, we trace the variety of Hokusai’s subjects, from erotic books to historical novels, and the evolution of his vivid formalism and decisive delineation of space through color and line that would go on to liberate Western art from the constraints of its one-point perspective and unleash the modernist momentum.

Hardcover, 21 x 26 cm, 0.5 kg, 96 pages

ISBN 978-3-8365-6337-6

Edition: English

TASCHEN