1831 (ca.), Katsushika Hokusai, Beneath the Waves off Kanagawa, also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji -- Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven)
From the museum label: Art enthusiasts in Edo-period Japan were mesmerized by Katsushika Hokusai's landscapes, especially his series of views of Mount Fuji, to which this print belongs. To create this image of an overpowering wave, Hokusai adapted to his own ends materials and devices that had recently been introduced from the West, namely, Prussian blue pigment and one-point perspective. Hokusai's great sense of achieving drama can be observed here and has proven influential for many artists, past and present. According to new interpretations of Hokusai's print, the great wave represents the encroachment of foreign powers, more than twenty years before Commodore Matthew Perry's forced opening of Japan to trade with America, in 1853.
1831 (ca.), Katsushika Hokusai, Beneath the Waves off Kanagawa, also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji -- Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven)
From the museum label: Art enthusiasts in Edo-period Japan were mesmerized by Katsushika Hokusai's landscapes, especially his series of views of Mount Fuji, to which this print belongs. To create this image of an overpowering wave, Hokusai adapted to his own ends materials and devices that had recently been introduced from the West, namely, Prussian blue pigment and one-point perspective. Hokusai's great sense of achieving drama can be observed here and has proven influential for many artists, past and present. According to new interpretations of Hokusai's print, the great wave represents the encroachment of foreign powers, more than twenty years before Commodore Matthew Perry's forced opening of Japan to trade with America, in 1853.