Hokusai, Katsushika

(10/21/1760 Honjo-5/10/1849 Asakusa) (Japan)

   Painter, woodblock printmaker, and book illustrator. One of the most famous Ukiyo-E artists, trained by Shunsho. He was interested in Western techniques of engraving and the use of perspective. The range of the subjects he depicted is enormous. It is likely that his two daughters worked with him on the shunga. Among his erotic series are Ehon Tsuhi no Hinagata ("Models of loving couples") and his last shunga Fukuju so ("Flowers of the New Year").

   Reproductions: [Bourgeois girl and lover]; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 304 . [Copulating couple], from "Young Pine Saplings"; Beurdeley, 1977: pp. 208, 211, 220, 222 [B], 223 . [Copulating couples], c1800; Klinger, 1984: figs. 628-634 [B], plates XXV-XXXIII [C]. [Couple as personified genitalia], from Manpoku Wago-jin; Gnojewski, 2004: p. 42 [C]. [Couple using swings]; Kron-hausen, 1973: pp. 58-59 [B]. [Courtesan and lover]; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 305 [B]. [Courtesan and lover at tea house]; 1812; Ronin, 1979: fig. 73 [C]. [Courtesan and lover with Shunga book]; c1812; Ronin, 1979: fig. 52 [B]. [Draped copulating couple]; c1820; Beurdeley, 1977: p. 239 [B] / Rawson, 1983: fig. 252 [B]. [Draped copulating couple], from Young Pine Saplings; c1820-1830; Beurdeley, 1977: p. 243 [B]. Dream of the fisherman's wife [aka Awabi fisher and octopus], from Kinoe no Komatsu; 1824; Webb, 1975: p. 100 [B] / Lucie-Smith, 1972: p. 255 [B] / Rawson, 1981: plate 176 [B] / Fagioli, 1997: plate 103 [C] / Lucie-Smith 1997: p. 156 [C] / Klinger, 1982a: fig. 99 [B]. Fifth month: comparison between courtesans; c1820; Ronin, 1979: fig. 61 [B]. Forms of embrace [illus from]; c1770; woodblock; Thomas, 2008: fig. 402 [C]. Fourth month: fishmonger and his lover; c1820; Ronin, 1979: fig. 60 [B]. Frontispiece from Manpoku Wag-jin; 1821; Illing, 1978: plate 40 [C]. [Geisha and lover]; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 305 [B]. [Geisha and rustic lover]; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 306 [B]. Illustration from Mampoku mago-jin; c1818; Klinger, 1982a: figs. 79-82 [B]. Illustration from Nami Chidori ("Plover over the waves"); c1817; Fa-gioli, 1997: plates 104, 105 [C]. Illustration from the album Ehon Tsubi no Hinagata ["Models of loving couples"]; c1810s; Rawson, 1983: plate 30 [C] / Ronin, 1979: figs. 43-48 [B], figs. 49-51, 72 [C]. Infatuated young man and teahouse girl; c1820; Ronin, 1979: fig. 59 [C]. [Lovers]; Smith, 1974: p. 100 [C] / Evans, 1975: figs. 6.81 -6.93, 6.96 [B], colorplate 15 [C]. [Lovers at moment of climax]; Gnojewski, 2004: p. 33 (upper) [C]. [Lovers copulating next to copulating mice]; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 307 [B]. [Lovers of equal social standing]; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 304 [B]. [Lovers on cusions]; Rawson, 1981: plate 132 [C]. Manpoku Wago-Jin: lesbian lovers; 1821; woodblock; Olley, 2005: p. 29 [C]. Manpoku Wago-Jin: seated lovers; 1821; woodblock; Olley, 2005: p. 28 [C]. [Married woman and her lover]; c1820: Ronin, 1979: fig. 54 [B]. Mr. Prick and Mrs. Cunt; Rawson, 1981: plate 154 [C]. Ninth month: season of the chrysanthemums; c1820; Ronin, 1979: fig. 62 [C]. [Nude couple copulating]; c1825; Beurdeley, 1977: pp. 236-237 [C] / Kronhausen, 1968: p. 85 [C]. Opening page from a Shunga book: sexual satisfaction is happiness; Rawson, 1981: plate 175 [B]. Second month: Flower-viewing excursion; Ronin, 1979: fig. 57 [B]. Shinzo stealing the mistress's lover; c1820; Ronin, 1979: fig. 53 [B]. Twelfth month: house cleaning in preparation for New Year's Eve; c1820; Ronin, 1979: fig. 63 [B]. [Two lovers]; c1820; Ronin, 1979: fig. 55 [B]. [Two women using a dildo; Beurdeley, 1977: p. 189 [B]. [Woman and her hairdresser]; c1820; Ronin, 1979: fig. 58 [B]. [Woman painting inscriptions on a man's penis], from "Young Pine Saplings"; Beurdeley, 1977: p. 231 [B].

   [b]Source: Benezit, vol. 7: pp. 210-212; Richard Lane, "Hokusai's erotica," Ukiyo-e: a journal offloating world art (Tokyo) [special issue], 1977; Richard Lane, "Hokusai's erotica revisited," Ukiyo-e: a journal offloating world art (Tokyo) 76 (1979); Richard Lane, "A preliminary catalogue of Hokusai's shunga prints, albums and books," Ukiyo-e: a journal offloating world art (Tokyo) [special issue], 1977; ThB XVII 1924: p. 322.