Katsushika Hokusai, 1760-1849

Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji: In the Totomi Mountains
(Fugaku sanju-rokkei: Totomi sanchu)

two woodcutters saw on a large beam set on trestles which diagonally divide the composition, in the foreground a woman carrying a baby on her back stands before a seated man sharpening a saw, in the middleground a young boy warms himself by a fire with plumes of smoke billowing across the sky dividing the composition across the opposite diagonal, Fuji is in the in the near distance framed by the triangular trestle; signed zen Hokusai Iitsu hitsu, published by Eijudo (Nishimura Yohachi), ca. 1830

oban yoko-e 25.4 by 37.2 cm

In this series Hokusai frequently repeated triangular or diagonal elements in his compositions in order to frame or mirror the near-conical form of Mt. Fuji. This composition exemplifies that technique, with numerous geometric references to Fuji throughout.

References:
Gian Carlo Calza, Hokusai: Il vecchio pazzo per la pittura, 1999, p. 288, no. V.35.19
Gian Carlo Calza, Hokusai, 2003, p. 274, no. v.35.19
Jocelyn Bouquillard, Hokusai's Mount Fuji: The Complete Views in Color, 2007, pp. 56-57, no. 19
Ann Yonemura, Hokusai, 2006, p. 184, no. 119

SOLD