Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese

Hokusai is best known for his 36-picture set of woodcut prints, "Mt Fuji Views", produced in 1827. The one which has become common to westerners is "The Great Wave". Check out the little faces in the boats by using the Zoom Tool. Amazing detail, and you can choose any part of the picture to Zoom - very handy. Do the little Japanese rowers look miserable, seasick, scared, or just busy rowing for their lives??
Ukiyo-E is a Japanese term for woodblock prints, or woodcuts, and this site has links to many japanese woodcut artists. Japanese woodcuts & painting influenced the work of the Impressionists adn Post Impressionists in Europe (Degas, Monet, van Gogh). The composition, or way the art is composed, was new to the west - it ran right off the picture, and there were sometimes very strong diagonals and views from above the landscape. It also pictures common, every day people and scenes, which appealed to the Impressionists. Japanese woodcuts also used strong patterns in cloth which were intriguing to European painters, and influenced later works by Matisse.

Another famous artist in this medium is Hiroshige, whose work included several series of woodcuts, including views of Mt. Fuji, some wonderful snow scenes, and this river scene. Notice how the boats run off the picture plane.

"DoJouji", by Utamaro, (left), and "Beauty with an umbrella under a willow", Hokusai, (middle), and Great Bridge: Sudden Rain at Atake, Hiroshige (right)