Waves in 19th Century Art: Hokusai
You’ve probably seen images of Hokusai’s “The Great Wave” on T-shirts, phone cases, cups, and so on. There’s even an emoji based on this highly popular Japanese print.
So, why are so many people inspired by this painting?
The Great Wave off Kanagawa. 1831. Hokusai
Hokusai created his most famous print, “Under the Wave off Kanagawa” or “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” in 1831. It’s a woodblock print that belongs to the genre ukiyo-e, popular in Japan from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Ukiyo-e prints vary in subject matter – they portray scenes from daily life, featuring actors, wrestlers, and beauties, but they can also show landscapes, as well as scenes from novels, legends, or history. In Japanese, ukiyo-e means “pictures of the floating (transient) world”.
Prints from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai
“The Great Wave off Katagawa” is part of Hokusai’s series ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’. As the name suggests, all 36 prints show various landscapes that have one thing in common – all of them feature the magnificent Mt. Fuji, one of Japan’s Holy Mountains. You can see the cone of the mountain a little to the right of the center in “The Great Wave”.
Self-portrait of Hokusai as an old man
Katsushika Hokusai was an interesting character. Starting his education as an artist, he painted the conventional geishas and actors, which were the popular subjects of ukiyo-e prints. After leaving the school where he studied, however, he gradually helped redefine the ukiyo-e genre by focusing on the scenes of everyday life, as well as landscapes. He painted all his major works after the age of 60. Painting under numerous pseudonyms throughout his life, the artist lived until the advanced age of 88. One of his pseudonyms was Gakyō Rōjin Manji – “The Old Man Mad About Art”. He had two sons and three daughters, and his youngest daughter became an artist like her father.
The Great Wave off Katagawa. Hokusai, detail
His masterpiece, “The Great Wave off Katagawa”, shows several fishing boats caught in the crest of a huge wave. Contrary to many comments, the wave isn’t actually a tsunami. It’s much more likely that Hokusai depicted an unusually large wave (known as a rogue wave). The painting inspires awe and respect for the immense power of nature. The wave is enormous, with the tiny figures of the fishermen looking helpless as they cling to the oars. Through it all, the cone of Mt. Fuji remains static and serene. If one remembers that Mt. Fuji is an active volcano (last erupting in 1707), the power of nature becomes an even more pronounced theme.
It’s interesting to note that Hokusai created a second, flipped version of the famous wave for his series “One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji”, which he published after the success of the “Thirty-Six Views”. This second version is much simpler – there are no people in boats, and the wave’s foam dissolves into a flock of white birds.
Many 19th century French artists were especially influenced by Hokusai’s imaginative techniques and compositions. Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, and Van Gogh were all influenced by Japanese prints. The writer Martin Bailey goes so far as to say that Van Gogh’s famous “Starry Night” was inspired directly by the painter’s fascination with “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” print.
Hokusai's 'Great Wave' vs Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'; Source of the image: How Hokusai's Great Wave crashed into Van Gogh's Starry Night. The Guardian.
Considering “The Great Wave’s” fame, it’s no wonder that the original cover of Claude Debussy's “La Mer” (1905), featured the image that came to be associated with the might of the seas – a theme that runs through the entire composition. Mt. Fuji and the fishing boats are omitted in the cover image, however. Debussy said that his “La Mer” was inspired more by paintings of the sea than by observing the sea itself[1]. Interestingly, “La Mer’s” cover might be one of the first instances of using famous paintings for album cover art.
Original cover of Claude Debussy's La Mer, 1905
Apart from its fascinating history and the influence it has had on artists throughout the ages, “The Great Wave” may be so attractive because of its use of the color blue. Blue is one of the most elusive colors in art, and its brighter hues were difficult to manufacture in the ancient world and in the Middle Ages. It remained one of the most expensive colors before the 19th century when chemical paints started being produced. Prussian blue was invented in the 18th century, when the paint was used to dye the Prussian army’s uniforms.
The color only appeared in Japan in the 1820s, and Hokusai became one of the first artists to use it extensively in his “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji”. His fascination with the bright blue hues resulted in numerous prints where blue is the predominant color. That’s why Hokusai’s prints are often known under the name aizuri-e, meaning “blue prints” in Japanese. Numerous Japanese artists continued the trend, many of them creating whole series of prints that used mainly shades of blue.
Further Reading:
Art: The Whole Story. Stephen Farthing (Ed.). Thames & Hudson 2010
Aizuri-e, https://www.davisart.com/blogs/curators-corner/gems-of-the-month-aizuri-e/
Debussy - La Mer, https://www.classicfm.com/composers/debussy/music/debussy-la-mer/
Prussian Blue, https://www.acs.org/molecule-of-the-week/archive/p/prussian-blue.html
Синий: История Цвета. Мишель Пастуро. Новое Литературное Обозрение 2021
[1] https://www.classicfm.com/composers/debussy/music/debussy-la-mer/
Comments
Post a Comment