Boy fishing from the limb of a tree

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849) · 1839

Hokusai’s work abounds with sympathetic portrayals of people of all ages engaged in mundane activities. In this painting, Hokusai captures a young fisherman in action. The boy clings to a tree with his legs and one hand while lowering his fishing rod toward the water. A basket hangs beside him. The artist’s mastery of the brush can be seen in his control of ink tonalities and his ability to render form with a few brushstrokes. A slight tremor in some of the brushstrokes appears in this and other paintings from Hokusai’s last decade.