HOKUSAI KATSUHIKA, Ippitsu Gafu n. 36, 1823

Series: Collection of sketches with a single brushstroke; Conveying the spirit and revealing the form of things through the album of drawings with a single brushstroke (Denshin kaishu Ippitsu Gafu)
Technique: Sumizuri-e, woodblock prints in two or three tones of pink, turquoise, and black
Format: Chubon (approximately mm 174x122)
Signatures: Zen Hokusai Iitsu Aratame Gakyorojin Manji
Artist's seal: Fuji no Yama
Date: Woodblocks carved around 1823; prints made during the Meiji era (1868)
Publisher: Eirakuya Tōshirō (Tōshodō), Nagoya

Beautiful proof with bright colors and fine lines, attributable to the edition by Eirakuya Tōshirō (early Meiji period) from the original woodblocks. Printed on Japanese paper, in excellent condition, with original untrimmed margins beyond the marginal line.

Annotated bibliography
M. Forrer, Hokusai, Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2010
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: Electa, 2003
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
M. Forrer, W.R. van Gulik, Hokusai and His School. Paintings, Drawings and Illustrated Books, Leiden: Society for Japanese Arts and Crafts, 1991
M. Forrer, E. Tōshirō, Publisher at Nagoya. A Contribution to the History of Publishing in 19th Century Japan, Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1985
S. Nagata, Hokusai no Etehon (Hokusai's Drawing Manuals), vol. 1, Tokyo: Iwasaki Bijutsu-sha, 1986
S. Vesco, Spontaneous Mastery. The Ryakuga haya oshie of Katsushika Hokusai, Venice: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2020
British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1915-0823-0-93
The Art Institute of Chicago https://www.artic.edu/artworks/192278/ippitsu-gafu-album-of-drawings-with-one-stroke-complete-in-1-vol
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/78799

Commentary
The very title of the collection, Conveying the spirit, revealing the form of things through a single brushstroke (Denshin kaishu Ippitsu gafu), expresses Hokusai's entire philosophy: the belief that art must go beyond mere reproduction of reality to capture the vital energy of each subject. 
As Van Gogh recalled in a letter to his brother Theo in 1888, "the charm of Hokusai lies in the ability to remove the superfluous to let the essential shine through." From the refined tones of turquoise and intense pink, the woodblock prints of the collection indeed enchant with their immediate freshness and demonstrate how Hokusai, in his graphic synthesis, anticipated and influenced modern sensibility, from Impressionist painters onward.