Long ago in Japan, There was a man who made more than thirty thousand works of art. We know him as Hokusai...
HOKUSAI
The Man Who Painted a Mountain
by Deborah Kogan Ray
Frances Foster Books
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001
In her own glowing paintings and clear text, Deborah Kogan Ray tells the fascinating life story of the artist Hokusai (1760-1849). He rose from poverty, taught himself to draw, became the promising pupil of a great master, and then defied tradition to become one of the most important and influential artists in the world.
Ray's paintings are rich with period and biographical detail. The endpapers show drawings from Hokusai's sketchbooks. Also included is one of his famous Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. A chronology, bibliography, and biographical note complete this extraordinary book.
awards and reviews
Silver Honor
Parents' Choice Award
Fall 2001 Picture Books
Parents' Choice: "The reader/viewer comes to appreciate the magic of Mt. Fuji as Hokusai saw it from boyhood; we feel as though we are with him during his apprenticeship as a woodblock engraver and get an uncanny sense of what Edo (now Tokyo) was like in the late 18th century when the artist was beginning his career."
C-SPAN2: The crew from C-SPAN2 was present at Chris' Corner Bookstore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Deborah discussed her biography, "Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain," with third grade students from Albert Greenfield Elementary School. This informative question and answer session was videotaped and shown on C-SPAN2 on Saturday, February 2, 2002. The program is available for viewing at the C-SPAN Video Library.
illustrations from the book
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