Primary sourcePainting

Two Beauties

Katsushika Hokusai

A hanging-scroll painting by Hokusai showing two women in elaborate kimono, representing his work in painted rather than printed figure art.

A hanging-scroll painting of courtesans showing Hokusai's painted, as distinct from printed, figure work.

Ask Hokusai about this source View the original

Hanging scroll painting of two Japanese women in elaborate kimono on a plain grey-brown background. A standing woman on the upper left, head tilted, wears a dark patterned robe with blue and white kimono and a peach sash. A kneeling woman lower right, in a rust-brown robe over green patterned fabric, rests her chin on her hand. A red seal and signature appear near the bottom. — Katsushika Hokusai, Two Beauties, undated. MOA Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This hanging scroll painting by Katsushika Hokusai shows two women dressed in elaborate kimono, one standing and one kneeling. It is held by the MOA Museum of Art.

Why it matters

Hokusai is best known for his woodblock prints, but he also painted directly on silk or paper for individual patrons. This painting of courtesans shows that side of his output, demonstrating his skill in composition and fabric pattern outside the printmaking process.

Look closer

How does the artist use pose and gesture to create a relationship between the two figures?
What differences in clothing patterns can you spot between the two women?
Why might a painting like this have been made for a private owner rather than printed in multiples?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hokusai on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Hokusai sources

Meet the AI Hokusai →

Woodcut print in blue, cream and tan tones of a huge curling wave with claw-like foam fingers rising over two boats full of rowers. Small Mount Fuji appears in the distance under a pale sky. Japanese calligraphy sits in a cartouche at upper left.

Painting

Primary source

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Katsushika Hokusai · 1830

Woodblock print page from Hokusai Manga with Japanese characters. Two men carry loads on poles over their shoulders; the man on the right carries a large hanging sack. A child carries a basket on a pole, and a crouching figure with a basket sits in the lower center beside a large basket.

Painting

Primary source

Man with Filarial Elephantiasis

Katsushika Hokusai · 1834

Woodcut print in ink on paper showing a scene at a wooden outhouse. A samurai with two swords peers out from a window of the latrine building. Outside, a bald man carries a large wooden bucket on a pole, and another man crouches in the foreground. Japanese text and a signature appear in the margins.

Painting

Primary source

Samurai Visiting a Latrine

Hokusai Katsushika · 1834

Colour woodblock print of Mount Fuji with a red-brown peak streaked with white snow, under a deep blue sky filled with rows of white, layered clouds. Dark green slopes fill the lower foreground. A vertical title cartouche with printed characters sits at the upper left.

Painting

Primary source

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830-1832

Woodblock print of a red-and-yellow rowing boat on a dark blue pond with lotus leaves. Several women in red and pink robes sit and kneel in the boat, one at the stern holding a long pole, others reaching toward the water. A green bank with bushes is at left, and a poem cartouche is at upper right.

Painting

Primary source

Women in a Rowing Boat on a Lotus Pond

Hokusai Katsushika

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Hokusai now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for free Get a quote for institutions