Extraordinary wood cuts by Hokusai, one of the greatest masters of Japanese engravings at the end of the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th Century, are being exhibited at the Palazzo Reale in Milan until January 9th 2000. Hokusai was considered as a mad draughtsman and worked with minute precision during a 70-year career. Born in 1760 he died at 89 after moving 93 times from one place to another.
Hokusai was familiar with all possible styles of paintings and used many aliases every time his technique changed. He produced landscapes, portraits of artists, birds, flowers and subjects drawn from many Japanese tales.
Hokusai notably influenced many Western Impressionist painters, notably Claude Monet, and Vincent Van Gogh or Gauguin. He was much prolific during his career and constantly strove to improve himself. He was one of the very first Japanese artists to represent landscapes, notably some 36 views of Mount Fuji and «The Wave», his greatest masterpiece.
He started to produce drawings at 6 but considered that his best works dated from the time he reached the age of 60. He once said that it was at 73 that he had finally understood the true forms of trees, plants, animals, insects and fish. He thought he would have to wait to be 100 years old to reach the greatest of levels and another ten years to see each point or line of his drawings have its own life.
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