Katsushika Hokusai

Shashin no Fuji 'Fugaku hyakkei' (Drawing Fuji from Life 'One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji')

Katsushika Hokusai's original woodcut, Shashin no Fuji (Drawing Fuji from Life) represents one of the artist's most famous scenes from Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji). A painter has taken up his brushes and surveys the splendid landscape ahead of him. So too does the gazing heron perched on a post to his right. His accompanying attendants prepare sake, open a bundle and take out rolls of silk or paper for painting.

In the late nineteenth century the French art theorist, Edmond de Goncourt, proposed that Hokusai had here created a self-portrait. By and large this conjecture has since been rejected. Firstly, Hokusai's method of creating landscape relied more upon his imagination than upon direct observation 'from life.' Secondly, Hokusai was not a wealthy man and could not afford travelling around the countryside with three servants or attendants.

The great enigma here is what image or scene will the artist create upon the blank sheet of paper before him. Note that his somewhat serene gaze is not focused directly upon Mt. Fuji. Rather, it seems to take in and contemplate the quiet majesty of the entire scene. In this case, perhaps, "Drawing Fuji from Life", will not so much be a literal representation of the landscape as it will be an exploration of its underlying essence. In this beautiful composition, as well, Hokusai clearly indicates that this artist has in a way become as much in harmony with the natural landscape of, Shashin no Fuji (Drawing Fuji from Life), as the bird above his head.

This original Japanese woodcut (Diptych) originates from Hokusai's famous series, Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji). It is printed upon two sheets of nineteenth century Japanese mulberry paper and with full margins as published the Tohekido edition, 1852 Catalogue #47. Shashin no Fuji (Drawing Fuji from Life) is a striking, original example of the famous landscape art created by the Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai.

Shashin no Fuji Drawing Fuji from Life Original Woodcut Diptych by Katsushika Hokusai Fugaku hyakkei One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji

Shashin no Fuji 'Fugaku hyakkei' (Drawing Fuji from Life 'One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji')

View other original Japanese woodcuts by Hokusai.

Katsushika Hokusai (Tokyo (Edo), Japan, 1760 - 1849)
#	Image	Title & Artist	Medium	Date	Publisher	Source	-
01.-		A Hero with a Prisoner (Portraits of Suikoden Heroes) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut	1829	Hanabusaya Heikichi	Chugi Suikoden Ehon (Portraits of Suikoden Heroes)
02.-		Gekka no Fuji (Fuji under the Moon) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut (Diptych)	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition: 1852)	Tohekido	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)
03.-		Haichu No Fuji (Fuji in a Wine Cup) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition: 1852)	Tohekido	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)
04.-		Konya'cho no Fuji (Fuji of the Dyers' Quarter) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition: 1852)	Tohekido	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)
05.-		Shashin no Fuji (Drawing Fuji from Life) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition: 1852)	Tohekido	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)	Sold
06.-		Sochu No Fuji (Fuji in a Window) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition: 1852)	Tohekido	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)
07.-		Suberi (Sliding Down) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition, c. 1847)	Tohekido	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)	Sold
08.-		Surprise Attack (Portraits of Suikoden Heroes) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut (Diptych)	1829	Hanabusaya Heikichi	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)
09.-		Two Heroes (Portraits of Suikoden Heroes) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut	1829	Hanabusaya Heikichi	Chugi Suikoden Ehon (Portraits of Suikoden Heroes)	Sold
10.-		Uneri Fuji (Fuji on the Swell) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut (Diptych)	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition: 1852)	Tohekido	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)
11.-		Yuki no ashita no Fuji (Fuji the Day after Snow) by Katsushika Hokusai	Original Japanese Woodcut (Diptych)	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition: 1852)	Tohekido	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)

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Title:	Shashin no Fuji 'Fugaku hyakkei' (Drawing Fuji from Life 'One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji')
Artist:	Hokusai, Katsushika (Tokyo (Edo), Japan, 1760 - 1849)
Date:	1834 & 1835 (Tohekido Edition: 1852)
Medium:	Original Japanese Woodcut (Diptych)
Publisher:	Tohekido
Note:	Katsushika Hokusai: The most influential Japanese master of landscapes and figure studies, Katsushika Hokusai created many masterpieces throughout his long and productive life. Studying under Shunsho, Hokusai’s earliest art was devoted to competent actor prints and figure studies in the style of his master. Then, in the first decade of the nineteenth century, Hokusai’s tireless studies led him to examine both Western art and Chinese paintings and prints. He thus broke from the standard ‘Ukiyo-e’ style to forge a path for his own unique genius. This would lead him to some of the greatest artistic examinations of the relationship between man and nature in the history of art, such as, Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji (1831) and Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji) (1834-1835).
	In many ways, Hokusai’s two series of Fuji woodcuts stand as the culmination of both his life and art. After all, such recognizable masterpieces as “The Great Wave” originates from these sets. Mount Fuji, however, represented much more to both the Japanese people and to Katsushika Hokusai. It stood as a primary symbol in all Japanese religions and came to signify for Hokusai the complex workings of immortality. In this vein the artist did not embark upon his greatest woodcuts until after age seventy and was firmly convinced that even finer art would be crafted by him at the ripe age of one hundred. Thus Hokusai did not sign the woodcuts from the Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji) with his name, but with the appellation, ‘Old Man Mad About Drawing’.
	Katsushika Hokusai was firmly convinced that Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji) constituted his best collection of artwork. Most scholars today agree. Each of the one hundred woodcuts (either single panels or diptychs) is unified by the presence of Mt. Fuji, either in detail, in the background or in a reflected surface, such as water, mirrors and even within the shiny surface of a teacup. Each is further united in its most penetrating examination of life and nature. It is not an exaggeration to state that the One Hundred Views stands as one of the greatest achievements of world art.
	The publishing history of the Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji) is well documented. The entire set consists of three volumes. Volumes 1 and 2 were first published in Edo in 1834 & 1835. Known as the ‘falcon tail’ edition the blocks were again reprinted in a second edition before the famine of 1837. Both volumes were then re-issued by Tohekido in Nagoya at the time of the first publication of Volume 3 in the late 1840’s. Then, around 1852, a more complex edition was introduced by Tohekido in which completely new color blocks were designed and cut to be printed with Hokusai’s original key blocks; one in gray and one in salmon pink. This original woodcut entitled, Shashin no Fuji (Drawing Fuji from Life) hails from this edition, the only edition, in fact, that contains the extra color printing. All woodcuts from editions of the One Hundred Views are very scarce and in great demand.
	Shashin no Fuji (Drawing Fuji from Life) represents one of Hokusai's most famous scenes from his set entitled, Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji). In this original woodcut (diptych), a painter has taken up his brushes and surveys the splendid landscape ahead of him. So too does the gazing heron perched on a post to his right. His accompanying attendants prepare sake, open a bundle and take out rolls of silk or paper for painting.
Raisonne:	Henry Smith, Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji, Braziller, New York, 1988.
Edition:	Catalogue #47. Fourth Edition as Issued by Tohikedo in 1852.
Source:	Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji)
Size:	7 1/4 x 4 3/4 (X 2 'Two Panels' Diptych) Small Chuban (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Framed and Matted with 100% Archival Materials

Condition:	Printed on two sheets of nineteenth century Japanese mulberry (rice) paper and with full margins as published by Tohekido in 1852. A superb, richly printed impression and in excellent condition throughout. Shashin no Fuji (Drawing Fuji from Life) represents a brilliant, original example of the famous landscape art of Katsushika Hokusai.
Subject:	Hokusai, original woodcut, Shashin no Fuji (Drawing Fuji from Life), One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji, relationship between man and nature, Tohekido edition, Japanese master of landscapes.
Price:	Sold - The price is no longer available.
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