Hokusai's "The Great Wave of Kanagawa"

The Great Wave of Kanagawa Painting by Hokusai

Its hard to look at this painting and not think of Japan. The Great Wave of Kanagawa is a world renown painting curated by Wukiyo-e painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai. Ukiyo-e is a form of painting and woodblock print specific to the Edo Period. This style of painting is known to be provocative as it highlights the activities of women and courtesans in the red light district during that time. However, what made this painting in particular so profound is that it stood away from the conventional Ukiyo-e painting, Hokusai captures the essence of Japanese's waters and landscape.

Hokusai had a very interesting career, growing up he was destined to become a mirror polisher to the upperclassmen and shoguns. However, he then transitioned into becoming an artist and entertainer that showcased his artistic talents to the shoguns. it was not until he was around 60 years old when his career skyrocketed and his series of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji became influential in art history. 

Hokusai's work, especially of The Great Wave of Kanagawa became influential to many European artists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas in which they learned a lot about perspective views, vanishing points, and scale in a painting. 

The Hokusai sticker on my water bottle

and a closer look 

Hokusai's career doesn't end there, he also began to train his daughter Katsushika O-ei in a time were women accepted to be painters. This story is portrayed in Katherine Gover's book " The Printmaker's Daughter" which I have read and I highly recommend it if you are interested to dig deeper into the roots of this profound narrative.

References:

Cain, Abigail. “7 Things You Didn't Know about Hokusai, Creator of The Great Wave.” 11 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, Artsy, 21 Oct. 2016, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-7-things-hokusai-creator-great-wave.

Shovova, and Yugen Tribe. “Everything You Need to Know About Hokusai, the Painter of 'The Great Wave'.” My Modern Met, 8 Oct. 2018, mymodernmet.com/katsushika-hokusai-the-great-wave/.