Hokusai and Mount Fuji
Written by Studio AM.
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Katsushika Hokusai was born in Japan in 1760. He drew many subjects throughout a long career, including people at work, animals, ghosts and landscapes. His drawing books contain studies of figures and natural forms, showing his close attention to shape and movement.
He is especially known for woodblock prints. In this craft, an artist's design was turned into carved blocks, then printed on paper. Carvers, printers and publishers helped bring the designs to readers. Producing many copies made prints more affordable than one-of-a-kind paintings.
Around the age of seventy, Hokusai created the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. The mountain appears from different viewpoints: sometimes large and clear, sometimes small behind buildings or waves. The Great Wave shows boats below a curling wave, with Fuji in the distance.
Hokusai used more than thirty artist names during his career and continued making art into old age. He died in 1849, aged eighty-eight. His late writing expressed the hope that more years of practice would deepen his understanding of the things he drew.
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
Which sentence best states the main idea of the passage?
The answer is C: Hokusai explored many subjects through a long career that included widely reproduced prints.
The passage describes his varied work, the production of prints and his continued wish to improve.
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Question 2 of 4
Why could prints reach buyers who could not afford one-of-a-kind paintings?
The answer is A: The same design could be printed many times.
Making multiple copies reduced the cost compared with a unique painting. Carving and printing still involved skilled work.
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Question 3 of 4
What does Hokusai's late writing suggest about his view of practice?
The answer is B: He believed he could still develop his understanding.
He hoped that more practice would deepen his understanding, even after a long career. This suggests he still saw room to develop.
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Question 4 of 4
In the passage, 'studies' means:
The answer is D: drawings made to explore a subject's form
The studies appear in drawing books and examine figures and natural forms. Here, they are drawings, not rooms or school lessons.
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