Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai, born in what is now Tokyo in 1760, began an apprenticeship as a block carver at the age of 15. He traveled through Japan and frequently changed his teachers and schools as well as his name. In his almost ninety years of life, Hokusai used around 30 names, including Gakyojin, which can be translated as "crazy about painting". Hokusai became famous for his series of pictures "36 Views of Mount Fuji". From this comes his most famous picture "The great wave off the coast near Kanagawa". The Japanese counted Hokusai's works more as “applied art”, whereas in Europe his work contributed to Japonism, inspired artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt and influenced Art Nouveau.