Shunro hokusai biography

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When I was 50 I had published a universe of designs.

European Influence

45th in the series, Travellers Crossing the Oi River.

Ukiyo-e and woodblock art were a product of the urbanization which took place in Japan starting in the 1600s. At 18, he joined the school of Katsukawa Shunsho, specializing in actor portraits under the name Katsukawa Shunro.

The Different Names of Hokusai

According to Sandra Andacht's "Collector's Value Guide to Japanese Woodblock Prints" (Krause Publications, ISBN 1-58221-005-5), Hokusai used the following art names during his career:

  • 1779: Shunro
  • 1781-1782: Zewaisai
  • 1785-1794: Gumbatei
  • 1795-1798: Sori
  • 1797-1798: Hokusai Sori
  • 1798-1819: Hokusai
  • 1798-1811: Kako
  • 1799: Fasenkyo Hokusai
  • 1799: Tatsumasa Shinsei
  • 1803: Senkozan
  • 1805-1809: Kintaisha
  • 1800-1808: Gakyojin
  • 1805: Kyukyushin
  • 1805-1806 and 1834-1849: Gakyo-rojin
  • 1807-1824: Katsushika
  • 1811-1820: Taito
  • 1812: Kyorian Bainen
  • 1812-1815: Raishin
  • 1814: Tengudo Nettetsu
  • 1820-1834: Iitsu
  • 1821-1833: Zen saki no Hokusai Iitsu
  • 1822: Fesenkyo Iitsu
  • 1831-1849: Manji
  • 1834: Tsuchimochi Nisaburo
  • 1834-1846: Hyakusho Hachemon
  • 1847-1849: Fujiwara Iitsu

Questions & Answers about Hokusai Katsushika

Who was Hokusai Katsushika?

Hokusai Katsushika was a Japanese ukiyo-e master of the Edo period, best known for Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

At 14, he became an apprentice to a wood-carver, where he worked until the age of 18, whereupon he was accepted into the studio of Katsukawa Shunsho. During the decade he worked in Shunsho’s studio, Hokusai was married to his first wife, about whom very little is known except that she died in the early 1790s.

I am writing this in my old age. In 1814, he began publishing a series known as the Hokusai Manga (sketchbooks), which eventually developed into 15 volumes. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. He fathered two sons and three daughters with these two wives, and his youngest daughter Oyei eventually became an artist like her father.

1779 An-ei 820Began publishing works under the name of Katsukawa Shunro.
Kibyoshi and share-hon had become popular.
1780 An-ei 921SHIRAI GONPACHI BANZUI CHOBEI MEGURO NO HIYOKU-ZUKA The Lore Mound of Meguro, kibyoshi text anonymous, illustrations signed Katsukawa Shunro.1781 Tenmei 122First prints for share-hon, hanashi-bon.
Grand sumo at Honjo Ekoin received unprecedented acclaim.
1785 Tenmei 526Temporarily adopted art name Gunbatei.
EDO UMARE UWAKI NO KABAYAKI, kibyoshi text and illustrations by Santo Kyoden.
1786 Tenmei 627WAGA IE RAKU NO KAMAKURA-YAMA Our Happy Home at Mt.Kamakura, kibyoshi text anonymous, illustrations signed Gunbatei.
TSUGEN SOMAGAKI, share-hon text and illustrations by Santo Kyoden.
1790 Kansei 231KOMAGUMI DOKANSHO Guide to Placing the Pieces, shogi-bon.

He began to introduce these elements into his work, developing an independent style of his own.

During 14 years at the Katsukawa school, Hokusai also studied painting with Yusen of the Kano school of arts and experimented with Western-style perspective. His childhood name was Tokitaro.

shunro hokusai biography

Although the use of multiple names was a common practice of Japanese artists of the time, the numbers of names he used far exceeds that of any other major Japanese artist. He began to observe and sketch everything around him. According to his own account, he moved residences 93 times during his life — an extraordinary number in an era when most people rarely relocated.

He remained loosely connected to the art school of Katsukawa Shunsho for 14 years, but was expelled from the Katsukawa Art School after Shunsho's death in 1792 for diverging from the new master's aesthetic principles. ISBN 978-1588342393

External Links

All links retrieved July 18, 2024. Hokusai. Phaidon Press, 2003.

Urban centers developed their own culture of popular entertainment, and the rise of a merchant class created a commercial market for certain types of art, so that the artists were no longer financially dependent on traditional patronage. He remarried in 1797, but in 1812 his eldest son died.

Hokusai Katsushika - Biography, The Great Wave, and Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist best known for The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

Hokusai’s name changes are so frequent, and so often related to changes in his artistic production and style, that they are useful for breaking his life up into periods.

At the age of 12, he was sent by his father to work in a bookshop and lending library, a popular type of institution in Japanese cities, where reading books made from wood-cut blocks was a popular entertainment of the middle and upper classes.

Hokusai produced his best works after the age of 60.