Hokusai, Katsushika 1760-1849
Japanese artist and wood-engraver

Born in Edo (modern Tokyo), he was apprenticed to a wood-engraver under whom he mastered the conventional surimono or commemorative paintings and book illustrations. He soon abandoned the traditional styles of engraving for the coloured woodcut designs of the ukiyo-e ('pictures of the floating world') school, which treated commonplace subjects in an expressionist manner, and of which he became the acknowledged master. His 15 volumes of Mangwa or Random Sketches depict most facets of Japanese life. His best-known works are his landscapes, an innovation to the ukiyo-e movement; they include his 36 Views of Mount Fuji (c.1826-33). His work greatly influenced the French Impressionists.