Sold for: $67,250

PROVENANCE
Collection of R.A. Laidlaw, Toronto
By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario

LITERATURE
Jack Hillier, Hokusai: Paintings, Drawings and Woodcuts, 1995, reproduced plate VII, listed page 60
Matthi Forrer, Hokusai Prints and Drawings, RCA London, 1991, reproduced, catalogue #12
Gian Carlo Calza, Hokusai, 2003, reproduced page 262, catalogue #V.35.2A, a later impression reproduced page 263, catalogue #V.35.2B, listed page 471
Roger Keyes and Peter Morse, Catalogue raisonné of the Single-Sheet Colour Woodblock Prints of Katsushika Hokusai, British Museum, 2015, catalogue #637
Timothy Clark, Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave, British Museum, 2017, reproduced pages 124-125, catalogue #52 and #53
Sarah E. Thompson, Hokusai's Landcapes: The Complete Series, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2019, reproduced pages 40-41 and frontispiece, catalogue #12

Oban yoko-e (standard horizontal format) woodblock print from the series ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'. Published by Nishimura Yohachi (eijudo).

Hokusai’s “Fine Wind, Clear Weather,” also known as “Red Fuji,” is one of the most important woodblock prints from his iconic series “The 36 View of Mt. Fuji”. These prints depict Japan’s tallest and most sacred mountain, Fujiyama, viewed at different hours of the day, seasons and weather conditions.

Published circa 1831, “Red Fuji” is one of the few prints from the series that doesn’t contain any human figures - the holy mountain is the focal point. Taking place in the autumn, Mt. Fuji is cast in a magnificent red by the reflection of the rising sun. From the Pacific winds, the sky is a clear blue with groups of small elongated cumulus clouds in the distance which accumulate in a feeling of serenity. The summit of the peak still contains traces of snow from the previous winter, and Mt. Fuji, in its near-abstract deified form, looms over the pine forest underneath.

Whereas Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” is deemed the most desirable print to a Western audience, “Red Fuji” is preferred by Japanese collectors since it showcases the immutable omnipotence of the revered mountain.

Examples of “Red Fuji” can be found in important institutions worldwide, including the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Art, Boston.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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