Art's Last Bow

“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods   Albert Bierstadt’s beautiful landscapes have become a symbol of the American West. They’re also somewhat controversial. Idealized and stunning, today they are often seen as part of the Manifest Destiny propaganda. But is this truly all there is to this German-born immigrant’s masterpieces? Capturing the Dream of the American Frontier in Paint         “The Ore gon Trail”. 1869. Albert Bierstadt , The Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was born in the Rhine Province, Germany, and in his heyday became one of the most famous American painters. His large-scale paintings depict the st...

You’ve pr obably 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 17 th to the 19 th 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 lands...