Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760 - 1849) THE FUJI SEEN BETWEEN THE HILLS OF SHIMO MEGURO. TWO MEN FALCONING ON THE RIGHT, A PEASANT ON THE LEFT
Woodcut, from the celebrated series of the 'Thirty six Views of Mount Fuji', published by Eijudo, c. 1831-33. Forrer 1974, n. 107/24. Signed 'zen Hokusai Iitsu no fude'. The publisher and 'kiwame' seals in red. Good impression, with blue outline; fairly good colour. A restored area bottom left. Rubbed and soiled. 'Oban yoko-e', 247 x 377 mm.

Hokusai was the greatest of all the Japanese painters of 'Ukiyo-e'. He was a voracious student of a huge range of artistic techniques and his work covered a spectrum of art forms: polychrome or ink paintings; 'surimono' (de luxe, small-edition woodblock prints) and polychrome prints; woodblocks for all kind of illustrated books; erotic pictures. Hokusai is thought to have made in all at least 30,000 drawings and the illustrations for 500 books. He led a life of singular variety, sustained by his inexhaustible energy.