Tobacco Art: Katsushika Hokusai

(Eric Squires) When we think of pipes in art, it's easy for our first thoughts to be of images specifically from Western works. From Adriaen Brouwer's unflinching scenes of early 17th-century hedonism, to the stylized Cubist still-lifes of Juan Gris, to the sentimental illustrations of Norman Rockwell, the tobacco pipe has indeed seen great popularity in the art of Europe and the Americas alike. The Occidental world, however, hardly has had a monopoly on the enjoyment of tobacco - indeed being responsible for its dissemination across the globe. Of course, the people of each culture that adopted the pipe also adapted it to suit their own tastes, their environment, and their supply of tobacco itself. Continued