Dual-Entry Exercise

Because there's a poster of it on my wall for easy reference, some thoughts on the famous woodcut by the Japanese master Hokusai, "The Great Wave."

1. Observation and Description
An ocean scene. Calm, blurred waters in the background, contrasted to the crest of a large wave and other waves. Three fishing boats filled with men are partially visible within the crashing waves. As a composition, this piece pays close attention to line and repetition. The areas at the tops of the waves are white against the blue water. In the wave valleys, repeating downstrokes of white suggest motion, as do the stylized curves at the tops of the waves. There appears to be a mountain in the distance, a snow capped peak that peeks out between the wave swells. A good 3/8ths of the space is simply the white/cream background that represents the sky. In the top left corner are some series of kanji that I cannot interpret, though I imagine it names Hokusai as the artist.

2. Reflections and Notes
Might need to provide some historical and artistic background on Hokusai and Japanese woodcuts. Also, their influence in Europe in the 1900s as an influence to Art Nouveau (curvilinear attenuated ornamentation). Lines: boats, wave valleys, background line behind the waves and mountain. Repetitions: curved wave tops, men in boats, white flecks on larger wave. Could be some room for a discussion of fractals and their role in art and nature (break from seeing the world as a set of repeatable figures, i.e. circle, square, rectangle, triangle). Though there is repetition, is is not exact (like rhymes in poetry--what if a sonnet had all 14 lines end on the same word?); this represents the world as a series of indistinct patterns. What is the meaning of the colors? Find out how woodcuts were produced in Japan (I assume they were hand-inked and pressed to some kind of linen or canvas screen) and if color would be in the artist's mind. Main colors: blue, yellow, and white. Find someone who can read Japanese or do some research into the meaning of the printed kanji.