HOKUSAI KATSUSHIKA, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji no. 53, 1835

Stunning proof with good contrasts, attributable to the print run of Eirakuya Tōshirō (mid 19th century) from the original woods of the Egawa workshop. Printed on Japanese paper, in excellent condition, with original untrimmed margins beyond the marginal line.

Annotated Bibliography
H.D. Smith II, Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji, New York: George Braziller, 1988
M. Forrer, Hokusai, London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1991
M. Forrer, Hokusai, New York: Rizzoli, 1988
M. Forrer, Hokusai: Prints and Drawings, Munich: Prestel, 1991
G.C. Calza, Hokusai: The Old Mad about Painting, Milan 1999-2000, London 2003
G.C. Calza, Hokusai: The One Hundred Views of Fuji, Milan: Editoriale Nuova, 1982
J. Hillier, The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration, London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1980
J. Hillier, L. Smith, Japanese Prints: 300 Years of Albums and Books, London: British Museum Publications, 1980
R.S. Keyes, Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan, New York: George Braziller, 2006
T. Clark (ed.), Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave, London: British Museum Press, 2017
M. Forrer, W.R. van Gulik, Hokusai and His School: Paintings, Drawings and Illustrated Books, Leiden: Society for Japanese Arts and Crafts, 1991
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/78803

Commentary
In the background, the snow-capped silhouette of Mount Fuji dominates, while in the foreground some lumberjacks are busy cutting the branches of a large tree. Their poses, dynamic and unusual, create an almost comical effect that entertains the viewer. This composition belongs to the famous series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji and shares the title with another plate from the same series, where, however, the workers are engaged in sawing a massive squared block of wood. A preparatory drawing of the work also exists, while a similar theme appears in the album Hokusai gashiki (1819).
The scene evokes a high viewpoint, as if one were so high on the mountain as to look down on Fuji. The setting is indicated in the province of Tōtomi, corresponding to the southwestern tip of the current Shizuoka prefecture, although it is not possible to pinpoint a precise location.
In the color version, Hokusai depicts the sawyers at work on a huge squared piece of wood; in this variant, however, he portrays men who, with axes, are working on a still intact tree. The work, considered one of the most eccentric in the series, highlights the intricate interaction between the shapes of human bodies, trunks, and ropes, accentuated by the movement of the shavings flying away under the blows of the axe.