Hokusai was a seminal Japanese artist known for his ukiyo-e paintings and prints. Hokusai’s most iconic works include The Great Wave off Kanagawa (c. 1828­–1833) and his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (c. 1830­–1832). “All I have produced before the age of 70 is not worth taking into account. At 73 I have learned a little about the real structure of nature, of animals, plants, trees, birds, fishes and insects,” he once said. Born Katsushika Hokusai on October 30, 1760 in Edo (present-day Tokyo), Japan, he began painting at a young age, and apprenticed to a woodcarver as a teenager. At the age of 18, he was accepted into the studio of Katsukawa Shunsho, whose paintings focused on depicting the...