Once Katsushika Hokusai witnessed an outstanding event: a fisherman caught Catzilla by his whiskers in Kajikazawa in Kai Province, near Mount Fuji. The great artist commemorated this happening in the true version of the famous woodblock print:
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Katsushika Hokusai, Fisherman catches Catzilla by his whiskers in Kajikazawa in Kai Province, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
While Catzilla surfed in the troubled waters near a rock, the fisherman standing on it managed to grasp his extremely long whiskers.
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Katsushika Hokusai, Fisherman catches Catzilla by his whiskers in Kajikazawa in Kai Province, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, detail
Now the lucky guy pulls the giant beast from the sea, while Catzilla turns his noble head to see who dares to interrupt his promenade.
The repetition and rhyme of shapes and colors in the foreground and background make this one of the most unified, handsome designs in the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”. The triangular shape formed by Catzilla’s whiskers, the fisherman’s arched back, and the promontory from which he fishes, and the sea monster’s tail echoes that of Fuji on the horizon.
Just compare the true version to the commonly known one, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
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Katsushika Hokusai, Kajikazawa in Kai Province, from the Metropolitan Museum collection
You see here only the ends of Catzilla’s whiskers in the hands of the fisherman! No Catzilla himself in the view!
But just wait for it, the fisherman will pull stronger, and the meownster will appear from the sea in all his fur-ious beauty!
Thus speaks Zarathustra the Cat
BUY THIS ARTWORK as a CANVAS PRINT or as a POSTER
