Art Complete set of Hokusai's Fujisan woodblock prints on auction in March

[thomas]

A rare complete set of 46 ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Katsushika Hokusai featuring Fujisan will go up for sale at Christie's in New York in March 2024. The auction house expects the prints in the "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" series, made between 1830 and 1833, to fetch a total price "in the millions" of U.S. dollars.

An ukiyo-e print of Katsushika Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" was sold at the New York-based auction house Christie's.​

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was a master Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock printmaker in Edo, now Tokyo. The Mt. Fuji series, which is among his most celebrated works, depicts the peak of Japan's highest mountain, southwest of Tokyo, from different vantage points in different seasons, according to information on Christie's website. "Some prints in this set are earlier impressions, while others are later. This series was not issued as a set but was published in several instalments," said Murakami. In March, a single print of "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" from the same series sold for USD 2.76 million at Christie's. Murakami said the earlier auction is not "comparable" to the upcoming one for a full set. According to the auction house, the seller is a U.S. citizen.

Complete set of Hokusai's Mt. Fuji prints to be auctioned in NYC in March

A rare complete set of 46 ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Katsushika Hokusai featuring Mt. Fuji of Japan will go up for sale at Christie's in New York in March.

english.kyodonews.net

More of Hokusai's prints are available at Christie's (if you have deep pockets):

https://www.christies.com/en/artists/hokusai-katsushika

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

If I had millions of dollars, this is the kind of art I might consider buying. It's famous, limited, and I like it.

The biggest problem with owning it would probably be theft prevention. I'd probably loan it to museums...as long as they can protect it against vandals.

 

[mdchachi]

If I had millions of dollars, this is the kind of art I might consider buying. It's famous, limited, and I like it.

The biggest problem with owning it would probably be theft prevention. I'd probably loan it to museums...as long as they can protect it against vandals.

Copies are unlimited though. I'll save my millions for other things.

Amazon.com : hokusai print

 

[thomas]

Just to illustrate the value of Hokusai's prints: the Bavarian State Library has recently acquired his "Great Wave off Kanagawa" for "a seven-digit € figure." According to the State Library's Institute for Conservation and Restoration, the coloured woodcut is an early, extraordinarily well-preserved print of the original printing plates.

Sorry, in German:

Berühmtes japanisches Kunstwerk: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek kauft »Große Welle« – für Millionenbetrag

Einer der bekanntesten grafischen Drucke Japans kommt nach München: Die Staatsbibliothek hat »Unter der Welle im Meer vor Kanagawa« von Katsushika Hokusai erworben. Das Werk soll 2025 ausgestellt werden.

www.spiegel.de

 

[johnnyG]

Well, woodblock prints were/are prints, not one-offs. Some artists and series had larger production runs than others (demand), and the quality and consistency of the print runs could vary (especially over time, as wood aged and may have been replaced). Not the mass-market runs of today, but there was that aspect. And it was both an art and a business--to borrow a way of looking at it from the movies/cinema, "The problem with looking at it as a business it that it's an art; and the problem with looking at it as an art is that it's a business."

These days, a complete set on the market, rather than one or another of the most famous individual prints, from as well known an 'artist' as Hokusai, would certainly have collector appeal.

There are others, but one excellent museum is in Matsumoto.

 

[thomas]

The NYT recently featured Jitendra V. Singh, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who started collecting Hokusai's woodblock prints at 60. His fascination with Hokusai and his images has led Dr. Singh to assemble the entire "Thirty-Six Views" series (actually, there are 46 images.) He completed that challenge in January 2023, and this week, he is selling the entire set at Christie's. The estimate is USD 3 million to USD 5 million.

There are likely fewer than ten complete collections that exist in the world. The series includes "Under the Well of the Great Wave Off Kanagawa," from 1831, with Mount Fuji rising behind soaring claw-like blue waves enveloping the boats thrusting through them. It has become an iconic image, reproduced on coffee cups, sneakers and even curtains worldwide. However, prominent museums mostly hold treasured sets, including the Metropolitan Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the British Museum, and the Bibliothèque Nationale of France. A complete set sold at Sotheby's for $1.47 million in 2002, though the buyer remains anonymous. The series is considered the most outstanding work by the artist, born in 1760 and began working on woodblocks at a young age. He was an Ukiyo-e artist — famous for prints that celebrated the daily lives of people in the countryside and cities, their travels and the country's serene landscapes in sumptuous colours and exquisite detail. When his work, along with that of other Ukiyo-e artists of that period, was discovered by French artists, they were fascinated. The Japanese artists and Hokusai, in particular, had an extraordinary influence on the Impressionists because, as one admirer wrote at the time, the work revealed "an unsuspected page in the great book of world art." That influence became known as Japonisme.

One Collector’s High Mountain Road to Hokusai

A professor’s 30-year dream of assembling a complete set of “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji,” the pinnacle of the artist’s career, leads to an auction.

www.nytimes.com