Convolvulus and Tree-frog

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849)

Fitzwilliam Museum

circa 1832

This work comes from an untitled series of 10 colour woodcuts published in Edo (Tokyo) around 1832. The series is Hokusai's masterpiece in the genre of nature prints and is known as the 'Large Flowers'. Each print features a flower and an insect (amphibians were classified as insects). Hokusai was probably influenced and inspired by Utamaro's great trio of natural history books on the themes of insects, birds and shells, which may also have prompted the humour evident in this print, where the eye has to search to find the frog.

• Medium: colour print from woodblocks
• Dimensions: 26.3 x 38.5cm
• Art Fund Grant: £15000 ( Total: £35,000)
• ArtFunded in: 2006
• Vendor: Israel Goldman

Provenance

Edwin Grabhorn, San Francisco (by 1960); Edwin and Irma Grabhorn (from 1963); Israel Goldman (2006).

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