Mad about Painting

Mad about Painting collects beautiful new translations of Hokusai's painting tutorials and related essays written by the artist and his peers-a selection made available in English for the first time.
"Even the most technical corners of art history can awe. From the reliably excellent “ekphrasis” series at David Zwirner, this pocket paperback humanizes a forbiddingly mythical figure, the Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai. Newly collected and translated here, the painting manuals he dictated near his death in 1849 (dictated, as Hokusai was not literate) contain, despite their strict instructional nature, surprising delights..." -The New York Times
Best known for his iconic print Under the Wave off Kanagawa, also known as the Great Wave, Katsushika Hokusai was a revolutionary printmaker.