A deluxe large-format edition of this beautifully illustrated introduction to Katsushika Hokusai, the most prolific artist of Japan-s Edo period, and master of ukiyo-e - -images of the floating world-. Hokusai: the blue, foam-crested wave rearing above Mount Fuji; the celebrated volcano idealized and reinvented by the artist in every nuance of view, season and painting; extraordinary bridges, the waterfalls of Japan, the contortions, costumes, gestures - the very breath of men, women, peasants, townsmen, warriors, artisans, leaping horses, birds, insects, fish, almost live on the ground on which they are painted - the countless imaginative drawings or the lively sketches done on the spot for the Manga, Hokusai-s record of shapes and forms drawn from life or imagined over time. With a body of work comprising more than 30,000 drawings and paintings, Hokusai (1760-1849) was the most prolific, varied and indisputably the most creative artist of old Japan. A universal genius in everything t
