The Aesthetics of Taxonomy: Hokusai’s Manga (1814-1878)
Starting in 1814, when he was already 55, Japanese artist Hokusai Katsushika published over 4000 small drawings on extremely varied subjects. The 15 volumes, each one including sixty leaflets, are called “Hokusai’s Manga” The term “manga” doesn’t refer to the kind of narrative format we all know today, but to the original meaning of the term, which is “curious drawings” or “whimsical drawings.”