Foreword to drawings 23 and 24.

In 1982, in an article published in Andon, Bulletin of the Society for Japanese Arts and Crafts. Vereniging voor japanse Kunst, N° 8, entitled “2^nd Hokusai”, Roger  Keyes stated that certain prints published under Hokusai’s name were clearly incongruous with regard to the rest of his works and suspected them to be the work of a pupil. His article included and discussed the print of Sukeshige showing his skill in horsemanship (Fig. 23). It would seem that Keyes was asking a valid question, and that the answer is the following:

The two drawings, figs. 23 and 24, show certain common characteristics:

• They were published in Oguri gaiden, an illustrated book officially containing works done entirely by Hokusai.
•  After studying drawings 1 to 22, a simple observation of the quality of line is enough to realise that these two drawings are not the work of Hokusai.
• A straightforward comparison of the two prints published using these drawings with other prints in the same book also shows obvious differences in composition and style.

These lead inevitably to the question: Are these drawings originals by pupils, incorrectly published under Hokusai’s name, or copies made from prints?  With what is currently known of the work of Hokusai’s pupils, it is impossible to provide absolute proof. However, the coincidence of finding drawings by someone other than Hokusai, for prints published in Hokusai’s name, but which are generally believed not to be by him is a positive initial clue. The discovery of work done in collaboration with Hokusai, in drawings 3, 8 and 11 and the similarity in the quality of the line between these three and Figs. 23 and 24 confirms this indication. Finally, and above all, we see in these two drawings the same techniques used in the drawings done entirely by Hokusai, especially the artist’s shorthand which seems even more unlikely to have been copied from a print, particularly since the use of this shorthand was unknown before the discovery of this group of drawings. In Fig. 24, the great difference in quality between the carefully drawn child and the right-hand side of the drawing which is obviously a preliminary sketch of the scene, makes it hard to believe that it could be a copy, which would no doubt have shown a uniform quality across all of the drawing.

It seems premature, for both of these drawings, to try to name the artist. We can however note a strong similarity between the woman standing in n° 23, the horsewoman in Fig. 8 and the painted figures by Hokumei, and it was in this same year, 1813, that Hokusai passed his “Kimodasoku” seal to Hokumei.

Drawing 23,  19.3 X 27.3 cm.

Sukeshige showing his skill in horsemanship, by a Hokusai pupil.

Published in Oguri gaiden, vol. 5, plate 19B – 20A, in 1813, in the name of "Katsushika Hokusai”.

Changes from drawing to print:

• A strap, going from the saddle towards the right and passing under the point of the sword, has been added to the print.
   

Artist's shorthand:

• The tiger skin on which the man on the left is sitting.
• The flowers in the woman’s hair are represented by circles.
• There is the start of the pattern on the clothes going from the woman’s chin to her belt.
• Two different types of weaving are indicated on the saddle and just underneath it on the saddle cloth.
   

Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections, vol. 4, V. & A. M., plate 18 – 7 shows a reproduction of a drawing of a woman, which has very similar composition, in particular having hair which is not black and the decoration of the flowers in her hair simply shown as circles, as well as certain other differences, but not enough to let us doubt that it is the same figure. The stroke seems different and the drawing is attributed to Taito II.