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South Wind, Clear Sky (Red Fuji)
Katsushika Hokusai, early 1830s
Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain, appeared in most Japanese travel literature of the 19th century. According to the Cleveland Museum of Art, maps sometimes marked its location with a Fuji-shaped icon and showed where travellers could get the best views.
Between 1829 and 1833 Hokusai made a series of prints of the mountain. This one is known as Red Fuji. It shows the mountain in the season between late summer and early autumn, when it takes on a reddish colour. The sky is clear, there are a few streaks of cloud and the dark forest runs along the base. The composition is simple: a triangle of red, a band of green and a blue sky.
It is a colour woodblock print, 25.6 by 37.5 centimetres. In the early printings Hokusai used Prussian blue, which was newly available, and the series was a success. A calm print such as this is a good contrast to the Great Wave, which comes from the same series.
From the museum record
| Artist | Katsushika Hokusai |
|---|---|
| Date | early 1830s |
| Medium | Color woodblock print |
| Size | 25.6 x 37.5 cm |
| Museum | The Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Credit line | Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore |
| Accession number | 1930.189 |
| Licence | Open Access (CC0) |
Source: The Cleveland Museum of Art collection record. Facts such as dates, sizes and credit lines come from that record. The write-up above was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the museum record and standard references. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
