Katsushika Hokusai
(Japan, 1760-1849)
South Wind,
Clear Dawn
from the series
Thirty-six views
of Mt. Fuji
c.1830-31
Color woodblock print
10 x 14 3/8 in.
(25.4 x 36.5 cm)
Gift of the Frederick R. Weisman Company, M.81.91.1
This print, often called Red Fuji,
is the greatest design in Hokusai's most famous series of
prints, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji. It is also one of the most
successful works in the history of printmaking. Red Fuji
epitomizes the phrase "economy of means": it uses only
three colors and a single outline that pulls the weight of the
composition into tense asymmetry. The perfection of this
composition grew from Hokusai's long study and analysis of form,
and his use of line, circles, triangles, and squares to create
balanced and monumental images. The resulting impression is one of
massive weight and power.
Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji
In Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, Hokusai's most acclaimed series
of prints, he distilled all of his compositional and narrative
genius. His aim in producing the series was to show the most
famous landmark in Japan in all seasons, in all possible scenic
variations, and in a multitude of atmospheric conditions. He
succeeded in evoking the reaction of the local inhabitants to this
monumental volcanic formation. Red Fuji is the only print
in the series that shows no inhabitants: it concentrates wholly on
the mountain. Hokusai shows Fuji during the ominous moments before
a storm blows in from the south.
Prior to this series, much of the
subject matter in Japanese prints revolved around the ukiyo
(floating world), the world of transient pleasures that included
courtesans and actors. When these subjects were prohibited by
reform law during the Kansei era (1789-1801), legendary and
historical prints entered the genre. After travel restrictions
were relaxed, resulting in a "travel boom" among the
general populace in the late 1820s and early 1830s, prints as
travel souvenirs became popular, especially Hokusai's Thirty-six
Views of Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji, as with many of the awe-inspiring
geographic features in Japan, is considered to be the home of a kami
(Shinto deity) and is a center for both Shinto veneration and
Buddhist mountain-worshipping cults. During Hokusai's lifetime,
pilgrims to Fuji were his main customers for these prints.
The total number of prints in this
series is forty-six: the thirty-six that comprise the original set
plus a supplement of ten. Early impressions of the original set
were done with a Prussian blue outline, following a brief fad for
this color, but later impressions and all supplementary prints
have the usual black outlines.
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