Katsushika Hokusai's

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Created by Hokusai artist, painter and print maker. The great wave is one of Hokusai famous prints and is part of a collection series called "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" published around the dates of 1830-1833.As the title suggest the painting is off a giant wave engulfing fisherman's boats with mount Fuji in the background .The perspective of the print shows the giant wave standing taller than mount Fuji showing it's powerful suggesting that the wave is a tsunami.tsunami. Hokusai has clearly captured the energy of the wave as it curves over to crash on the sea you can imagine the strength of the water maybe strong enough to break the boat in half. I also like the colour palette that he  has used the dull grey sky help to highlight the electric blue waves and the white surf on the waves. 


This piece is created from block printing a method commonly used in Japan and China, it was first used by Chinese Buddhist to create books for temples then was seen in Japan in the eighth century then as time went on the method got noticed by artist who used the method to create prints.The method involves first drawing the design onto paper the glued on a wooden block then the artist would cut away the wood on the outlines they have previously draw then applied ink to the block then pressed onto paper to reveal their print. 

Hokusai work has inspired many artist with his work. For example Dior's spring/summer 2007 Haute couture collection featured the Suzurka-San coat mixing Japanese and Victorian  with over sized kimono shaped sleeves and a Victorian ball gown shape with the great wave beautifully hand printed on the bottom with embroidered white linen. The coat has a elegant and royal look to it.The elegance of this dress contrast with the disaster the tsunami have could of caused to fishermen.

I find Hokusai work inspiring because i love the energy the piece has as well as the traditional style his work has  lasted through time and still is famous after  170+ years and is used as inspiration in all aspects of design. The shape seen in the design is something i want to explore for my collection  whether its in embroidery or fabric manipulation i also like the colour palette used in this design as it soft white and light blue then with a highlight of a darker shade of blue. 

Inspired from the great waves shape and style i created a sample that uses the curves the waves and wave crashing on top of each other i plan on mixing colours of blue and white taken from hosuke colour palette.