FROM THE PUBLISHER

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was one of the greatest of the Japanese printmakers. painters and book illustrators. This richly illustrated monograph provides a comprehensive overview of the master's life and works, and also analyses his potent influence on Western artists. The core of the book is a series of six chapters, each providing a succinct account of a phase in Hokusai's life followed by a sequence of the finest and most representative works of that period. In addition, seven essays by distinguished Western and Japanese scholars present new research on a range of crucial areas of interest in Hokusai's studies. Finally, a full commentary on each illustration provides detailed technical information and also a revealing analysis of style, colour, composition and motif. With some 700 illustrations, this magnificent scholarly survey is the first publication in English to make such a rich selection of Hokusai's prints, paintings and drawings available to a wide public, revealing his mastery of line and colour to full advantage, and demonstrating the extraordinary range and quality of his achievement. This will become an indispensable book for all scholars and lovers of Japanese art.

SYNOPSIS

This big and beautiful book presents a comprehensive survey of the work of one of Japan￯﾿ﾽs greatest and most influential artists, together with a collection of essays that focus on a key aspects of the master￯﾿ﾽs career.  The book opens with an introductory essay by Gian Carlo Calza presenting an overview of the changing world Hokusai was born into and lived through. This is followed by a series of essays by distinguished Western and Japanese scholars that present new research on a range of crucial areas of interest in Hokusai studies. These provide a context for the core of the book, which forms a retrospective of Hokusai￯﾿ﾽs entire career, divided into six chapters. Each chapter gives a succinct account of a phase in Hokusai￯﾿ﾽs life, followed by a series of the finest and most representative works of that period. A seventh chapter explores Hokusai￯﾿ﾽs influence on the West. Great care has been taken throughout to choose for reproduction the best-preserved original prints that reveal Hokusai￯﾿ﾽs mastery of line and colour to full advantage. This magnificent pictorial survey of Hokusai￯﾿ﾽs prints, paintings and drawings is the first publication in English to make such a rich selection widely available, and to demonstrate the extraordinary range and quality of Hokusai￯﾿ﾽs achievement. The final component of the book is a detailed scholarly commentary on each illustration that provides not only the necessary technical information but also a revealing analysis of  style, colour, composition and motif.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

… Gian Carlo Calza, director of the International Hokusai Research Center in Milan, has divided up the territory among a remarkable team of experts. Hokusai was as interested in the movement of water as Leonardo. Nobuo Tsuji, the rector of the Tama University of Fine Arts in Tokyo, tells us that there is as much fantasy as observation in Hokusai's surreal late views of waterfalls (some look like a courtesan's combed hair, others like buckwheat noodles), and Richard Lane, an art scholar in Kyoto, walks us through Hokusai's perhaps equally fanciful erotica. Even people who think they know Hokusai's work well will find surprises in this thoughtfully arranged book, which concludes with some striking examples of French art inspired by Hokusai. — Christopher Benfey

Publishers Weekly