![]() Nevertheless he was finding it very difficult to complete the project: modern transport had expanded the number of places for viewing Fuji so much that this was perplexing him. The artist announced in 1979 that he had already been out collecting ideas for the series in the vicinity of Fuji for 'ten years and more' and that he had commenced preparing the blocks 'the year before last'. The Thirty-Six Views of Fuji, his unique venture into landscape, nevertheless carries over may of these prized qualities. Timothy Clark in 100 Views of Mount Fuji writes: Hagiwara's international reputation rests on the abstract woodblocks, bursting with saturated colour and rich in texture, that he has produced since 1958. In discussing why this series took so long to produce, Hagiwara states that while he was very familiar with the mountain, living in Kofu City, Yamashi Prefecture, "Mount Fuji looks like a beautiful mountain without faults, a beautiful woman without faults is very hard to paint." T o achieve Fuji's crown of snow, Hagiwara employed the technique of kimekomi (blind printing) a way of pressing out the paper to give a sense of volume. Special techniques used in the production of this series include kirazuri , the sprinkling of mica dust on to a light film of glue on the surface of the print while the ink is wet to achieve a subdued sparkle, the application of sawdust onto the woodblock to achieve an uneveness in the ink, and the use of varnish. But, whereas, Hokusai's views all include human activity, Hagiwara's thirty-six views focus on seasonal and atmospheric changes without directly showing the presence of man. It is the artist's homage (some say "challenge") to the famous ukiyo-e print artist Katsushika Hokusai and his Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji ( 富嶽三十六景 Fugaku Sanjūrokkei) created in the early 1830s. ![]() Hagiwara created this series between 19, although it was many more years in the planning.
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