The West first discovered the art of the Japanese woodblock print. Though popular enough in Japan, the prints had been denied any kind of artistic standing until it became understood that their reputation abroad was much higher than at home.
In the same manner, one of the most representative of these artists, Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), was first given aesthetic recognition in Europe and America. In 1880, "Notes on Hokusai" by Edward Morse had appeared, and between 1896 and 1914 there were three biographies in French -- those of Edmond de Goncourt, Henri Facillon and Marcel Revon.
In Japan there was no such interest. There had been an 1817 pamphlet about how Hokusai had managed to paint the famous giant picture of Dharma, but no comprehensive monograph appeared after Iijima Kyoshin's 1893 compilation, itself consisting mainly of biographical anecdotes. It was not until 1944 that a serious work on the artist appeared, a monograph by Narazaki Muneshige.
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