Hokusai

Born around 31 October 1760 in Edo-period Japan, Katsushika Hokusai started drawing as a child and never stopped. He worked as a painter and printmaker, expanding ukiyo-e beyond its roots in courtesans and kabuki actors to encompass landscapes, plants, and animals. In response to a domestic travel boom and his own fixation on Mount Fuji, he created Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji — the series that made him. The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Fine Wind, Clear Morning became the prints that secured his fame at home and abroad, riding the Japonisme wave that swept Europe in the late 19th century. Ove…