Even a small child, little Katsushika Oei, had always called
her unusual, but very creative and eccentric father, "Old
Man". Sometimes said with affection and sometimes said with
derisiveness, he was always her "Old Man" as she had been
born to him, his third daughter, when he was forty as a time
in Japan where few people live past the age of 45.
Her father was the famous artist and printmaker Hokusai
whose works were well known both in the much beleaguered
artistic community in Edo (now present day Tokyo) and to the
Dutch devils as equally determined to find out more about
the Japanese and their lives as the shogun was to keep them
away.
Carried on her father's shoulders as a child or taken with
him into the brothels of Edo so he could paint the beautiful
courtesans behind their lattices or enjoying a short walk,
Oei saw every aspect of life and idolizing her father,
quickly learned from him how to see the artistic
picture in the ordinary. With her steady and gifted hand,
she first learned to mix the paints, to fill in the colours
in his drawings and then to make her own paintings and bring
them to wondrous life.
Despite all their hardships and ups and downs in life, she
was always the one he turned to as his favourite daughter,
assistant, apprentice and caregiver. Often called "Ago-Ago"
(Chin-Chin), Oei is as strong-willed and prominent in her
opinions as her chin. Living in their untidy tenement room
with almost constant family squabbles over her father's lack
of interest in money, yet revered by artists as the famous
North Star studio, Oei refuses to learn womanly skills from
her mother and is the "girl who can paint, but cannot sew."
But, can she survive or be accepted as an artist in this
tightly controlled culture that insists on female
submissiveness?
Set in 19th Century Japan, award winning author Katherine
Govier has brought to life in rich and amazing colour and
detail, a fascinating and highly evocative story about Oei,
her famous father, and the hardships faced by women and
artists during this highly unsettled and difficult times.
For myself, I found the historical context in the Afterward
section at the end of the novel almost as compelling as her
fictionalized story that Govier so exquisitely imagines from
so little historical fact and allows us to see from Oei's
ever observant and knowing eyes. Knowing very little about
Japanese art, I immediately had to Google to see if I could
find some art work and was blown away by the beauty of the
pictures of the actual works done by Oei, the better artist,
and her more recognized and famous father, Hokusai.
Not only a brilliant researcher, Govier is also particularly
adept at character development and one of the best parts of
the book is seeing how Oei's perspective on life and her
father changes as she grows older as well as with her
relationship with Shino, a former regal Japanese lady
reduced to being a courtesan at the whim of her husband.
Through her, she learns some womanly skills that help her
survive the harsh restrictions on life where women
can so easily be set aside into a life of servitude or be
killed without cause. This amazing book is such an
incredible gem; it should not be missed by anyone! For
Canadian fans, the book is published in Canada as "Ghost
Brush". Check it out at http://theprintmakersdaughter.com!
Recounting the story of her life, Oei plunges us into the colorful world of nineteenth-century Edo, in which courtesans rub shoulders with poets, warriors consort with actors, and the arts flourish in an unprecedented moment of creative upheaval. Oei and Hokusai live among writers, novelists, tattoo artists, and prostitutes, evading the spies of the repressive shogunate as they work on Hokusai’s countless paintings and prints. Wielding her brush, rejecting domesticity in favor of dedication to the arts, Oei defies all expectations of womanhood—all but one. A dutiful daughter to the last, she will obey the will of her eccentric father, the man who created her and who, ultimately, will rob her of her place in history. Vivid, daring, and unforgettable, The Printmaker’s Daughter shines fresh light on art, loyalty, and the tender and indelible bond between a father and daughter.
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