In 2000, the American magazine Life listed Katsushika Hokusai as one of the "100 World Millennial Celebrities." Although he made countless famous paintings in his lifetime and had a great reputation, Katsushika Hokusai was a humble and down-to-earth person. At the age of 74, Katsushika Hokusai lamented his lack of talent for painting.
He was expelled from the division once or twice
Katsushika Hokusai was born in 1760 to a poor peasant family cut off from the headquarters of Katsushika Prefecture in Musashika Province. His surname was Kawamura, his name as a child was Taro, later known as Tezo, and commonly known as Nakajima Yaemon. In 1764, he became the adopted son of Nakajima Ise, the shogunate's imperial mirror miller, but Nakajima Ise later had his own son inherit the family business, and Katsushika Hokusai soon left. After that, he successively worked as a bookstore rental partner, running around delivering books, and also worked as an apprentice to woodblock engravers, and became interested in the art of painting. Later he returned to his original family.
Katsushika Hokusai self-portrait
In 1778, he studied under the ukiyo-e master Katsukawa Harujo and was greatly influenced by Katsukawa Harujo's art. During this period, his portraits of Kabuki artists clearly exhibited the katsukawa school of art, including posture, facial expressions, and uncontrolled natural sets. At the same time, Kiyonaga Torii and Toyoharu Utagawa's novel and open artistic concepts also deeply influenced Katsushika Hokusai.
Katsushika Hokusai began publishing his works at the age of 19, and his servant painting Segawa Kikunosuke was officially published in 1779. In the ninth year of Ernst & Young (1800), the 21-year-old Katsushika Hokusai illustrated the Yellow Table Paper work The Biography of Dewei Sannai, the first time he had illustrated popular literature. He then spent a long time illustrating popular stories such as yellow sheet works.
Excerpt from the yellow-table paper work "The New Compilation of water margin paintings" Katsushika Hokusai
At the same time, during this period, Katsushika Hokusai studied painting under Kano Eikawa, and was then removed from his former teacher, Haruaki Katsukawa. The shogun sent him to work at the Nikko Shrine, during which time he was again expelled from the division for criticizing his teacher's work.
Around 1786, he created "Kamakura Mountain of My Family Music" under the pseudonym Gunma Tei, and the following year he created a series of works imitating the style of Lingchuan Shixuan, calling himself Lingchuan Zongri. After this, Katsushika Hokusai studied the Tosa school of painting, and was also involved in both Chinese and European painting. Around 1794-1804, he used the pen name Shitaro. From 1805 onwards, he was officially known as Katsushika Hokusai.
It is said that after Katsushika Hokusai was expelled from the division by Katsukawa Harujo, no one bought his works and he lived in poverty. By chance, he met his teacher Haruaki Katsukawa and his mother on the street, and he felt landless. That's when he sold a portrait of Zhong Kui on a red flag, and the painting will be on display on Boys' Day in May. This gave Katsushika Hokusai a great inspiration, and he was determined to become a true painter. He went to the Hokushin Shrine on YanagiShima to pray reverently, hoping that he could become a brilliant painter. Pen names such as "Lei Dou" and "Lei Zhen" are related to this shrine.
According to records, Katsushika Hokusai had a heavy rain on his way to the shrine. There was thunder in the sky, and he thought it was a good sign, believing that it would herald his reputation to resound in all directions like thunder, so he gave the pen names Lei Dou and Lei Zhen.
"I would rather choose pain than live on tiptoeing." ”
In the late 1780s, Katsushika Hokusai received orders for four paintings from a Dutch captain and a Dutch doctor. When the painting was completed, the doctor was only willing to pay half of the money, on the grounds that his property was less than the captain's. Katsushika Hokusai refused the doctor's request and simply did not sell it to him. When he returned home, his wife persuaded him to accept the half-price demand because they were short of money, and Hokusai flatly refused, saying: "Foreigners cannot be made to think that the Japanese are fools." He added:
I would rather choose pain than live on tiptoeing.
From these words, it can be seen that Katsushika Hokusai has a tough temperament. Throughout his life, he never paid attention to the voices of criticism and always insisted on his own ideas. Even when his fame was rising, he still lived a life of poverty.
Katsushika Hokusai "Hundred Tales of 100 Stories"
It is said that the shogun Tokugawa Ieki heard of Katsushika Hokusai's superb painting skills, so he ordered him to test his painting skills with the famous painter Kofumi-chao in front of him at Asakusa-an. Even on such occasions, Katsushika Hokusai would still surprise this distinguished audience. He dipped the broom in dark blue ink, lay on the ground, depicted tumbling waves on huge drawing paper, and smeared the paws of a hen (brought in advance in a cage) with red ink to make it run on the paper. Chicken claw prints instantly turn into autumn red maple leaves. The landscape painting of the Longtian River dyed with red maple leaves in late autumn was created in such an interesting way. Tokugawa Ieyasu admired Katsushika Hokusai and admired his artistic attainments.
3. Japan: Let the world know about ukiyo-e
In order to coincide with the development of tourism in mainland Japan at that time, and because of his personal love for Mt. Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai decided to create a series of landscape paintings. Mt. Fuji is a national symbol of Japan and a symbol of beauty. It is one of the three mountains in Japan, and in ancient texts it is also called "no two", "not exhausted" or "rich", and is often referred to as "Furong Peak" or "Fugatake". Since ancient times, the name of this mountain has often appeared in the traditional Japanese poem "Waka". In 1826, Katsushika Hokusai created a series of landscape paintings, Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku, based on the different angles of Mt. Fuji. There are 46 paintings in the Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku, and Hokusai originally planned to paint only 36 according to the title, but later because of its popularity, another 10 paintings were added.
Among them, the magnificent works depicting Mt. Fuji, such as "Kai Feng And Fast Sunshine" and "White Rain Under the Mountain", are widely known, and these two paintings are also affectionately known as "Akafushi" and "Black Fuji".
"Kaifeng Quick"
"White Rain Under the Mountain"
"Akafuji" refers to Mt. Fuji, which is not covered by snow in the summer, and is red in the morning by the sun. This scene occurs mainly between late summer and early autumn, and is regarded as an auspicious omen by the Japanese people.
The painting viewpoint of "Kaifeng Kuaiqing" is in Kai kingdom or Suruga country, and like "White Rain Under the Mountain", the bottom of the picture is the sea of trees on Mt. Fuji, the background is blue sky and white clouds, and there is a remnant of snow creek at the top of Fuji Mountain, and the red and black mts of Fuji are equally eye-catching. In the case of Mount Red Fuji, although it may depict Akafuji on a late summer morning, studies have shown that there is no reliable information to prove that the scene in the painting occurred in the morning. The word "Kaifeng" is taken from the Book of Poetry and means the gentle south wind that blows in summer. Before Katsushika Hokusai, the Japanese painter Norosukeshi painted a "Map of the Red Jade Hibiscus Peak", which may have been influenced by it. There are actually other versions of "Kaifeng Quick", the earliest version is darker in color, and the top of the mountain is not red. As a large number of printed woodblock prints, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other museums around the world have collections of "Kai Feng Qing Qing".
Another masterpiece, "Kanagawa Surf", is one of the most exposed ukiyo-e paintings in the world. The Dutch painter Van Gogh greatly appreciated this painting, and his famous work "Starry Moon Night" is believed to have been inspired by this painting; the Impressionist French composer Claude Debussy was also inspired by this painting to create the symphonic poem "The Sea". At the same time, the triangle wave in "Kanagawa Surf" has also become one of the famous pictures of many later generations of creative parodies.
"Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku: Surfing in Kanagawa" Katsushika Hokusai
Appreciation: Depicting ships with huge waves threatening Kanagawa Oki (off the kanagawa sea), like the rest of the series, set against Mount Fuji. The painting depicts the waves rolling up the fishing boats, and the boatmen struggling to survive. There are 8 rowers holding oars on the fishing boat, and more than 2 passengers can be seen at the bow of the boat, and people are frozen in the boat, contrasting with the moving waves. The Cumulonimbus clouds over the waves make people think that there should be a storm now, but there is no rain in the painting.
Measuring 25.7 cm high and 37.9 cm wide, "Surf Lane in Kanagawa" is a large-format banner painting. The drop in the upper left corner of the picture bears the title and signature of the painting. The rectangular box is written with the title "Fugaku Thirty-Six Views Kanagawa Surf". The signature on the left side of it is "Hokusai changed to a stroke", and the "Hokusai" is directly renamed "for one". In the Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku, in addition to "Hokusai changed to a stroke", he also used the signatures "Former Hokusai is a stroke" and "Hokusai is a stroke".
The "Snow Dan of the Gravel River" in the "Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku" depicts a scene after the snow. Compared to Hiroshige Utagawa, Katsushika Hokusai's paintings do not show much snow, and he likes to use the original color of Japanese leather paper to show the snow color. The bright blue sky contrasts with the snow-white Japanese leather paper to create a sense of fresh air▼
"Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku: Snow Dan of the Gravel River" Katsushika Hokusai
Appreciation: In the morning after the snowfall in the middle of the night, people enjoy the snow view and Mt. Fuji from the open balcony on the second floor, Mt. Fuji stands out from the snowy scenery, and customers gather at the window of the restaurant to enjoy the elegant Mt. Fuji viewing party; The waitress brings a large plate of food; A woman pointed to the empty sky where three birds circled.
Another painting in this series, "Changzhou Ushibori", depicts the present-day city of Shiorai in Ibaraki Prefecture, where it borders Lake Kasumigaura. It is well known to the public as a place where you can overlook mt. Fuji. Hokusai depicts both the harshness of nature and people's lives, and glimpses people's life on boats, where life is also a sight to behold
Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku: Ushihori, Changzhou, Katsushika Hokusai
Appreciation: Hokusai's tomaks floating on Lake Kasumigaura are depicted in close-ups, with blue as the base, showing the cold of winter mornings. A huge boat protruded into the swampy waters, a man leaned out of one side window of the boat and poured the pot of rice water into the river, the sound of the water frightened two flying egrets, and another sat in the doorway to the cabin; the ship's cargo compartment was filled with carefully stacked cargo, the right shelf was covered with reed pads, and Mt. Fuji was rising in the distance.
Katsushika Hokusai loves the motherland, loves life, loves nature, legend has it that he moved 93 times in his life, has a wealth of life experience, so his painting world is very broad, the subject matter is very rich, flowers, birds, insects, fish, landscape figures all kinds of painting, especially good at depicting japan's beautiful mountain scenery and people's labor life and hobbies. He is both good at writing and freehand.
In 2000, the American magazine Life listed Katsushika Hokusai as one of the "100 World Millennial Celebrities", praising his spirit of striving for progress throughout his life and finding ways to make his paintings more perfect. Although he made countless famous paintings in his lifetime and had a great reputation, Katsushika Hokusai was a humble and down-to-earth person. At the age of 74, Katsushika Hokusai lamented his lack of talent for painting.
In the "First Edition of The Hundred Views of Fugaku", he said: "To be honest, the things I painted before the age of 70 were not very good, nor were they worth mentioning. I think I'm going to have to keep working hard to draw something quite remarkable at 100. Unfortunately, Katsushika Hokusai did not live past the age of 100.
Before dying, he sighed and said, "How I wish I could live another five years so that I would have time to try to become a true painter." Katsushika Hokusai died at the age of 88 and is presumed to have left about 35,000 works in his lifetime.
/End
/ Source: This is Ukiyo-e: Oriental Art That Influenced the World, by Wu Qiyin
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="178" > Recommended reading:</h1>
This Is Ukiyo-e: Oriental Art That Influenced the World
Author Wu Qiyi, eds
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☞ A book seconds to become an expert in ukiyo-e appreciation!
Give a beautiful picture with the book.
☞ Restoration of 200 exquisite paintings,
300 years of history + 15 representative painters + 7 major genres at a time.
☞ Oriental art that made Van Gogh love for a lifetime, Monet painted the prototype of the Nihon Bridge and the Water Lilies.
☞ A quick start to collecting & appreciating, panoramic reproduction of ukiyo-e art history, high-definition restoration of famous painting parts, in-depth interpretation of Katsushika Hokusai's global popularity of the giant waves, the originator of anime culture, and understand the beauty of Japanese Japanese style.