Famous Japanese Woodblock Art
Japanese woodblock prints changed Western art in the 19th century. These hand-painted oil versions of famous designs by Hokusai and Hiroshige bring their bold lines and colour to canvas.
Looking for a painting that is not on this page? Search it by title. If it’s public domain, we paint it.
About Famous Japanese Woodblock Art
Katsushika Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" (around 1831) comes from his series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji". A huge claw-like wave curls over three fishing boats, with Fuji small in the distance. From the same series, "Fine Wind, Clear Morning" shows the mountain glowing red at dawn.
Utagawa Hiroshige made "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" in the 1850s, with daring crops and strong diagonals, such as "Plum Park in Kameido" and "Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and Atake". When these prints reached Europe they inspired Monet, Degas and Whistler. Vincent van Gogh collected them and in 1887 painted oil copies, including "Flowering Plum Orchard (after Hiroshige)" in the Van Gogh Museum.
Because the originals are prints, our oil versions translate flat areas of colour into paint on canvas.
