First finished artwork of the new year. The Great Wave after Hokusai, 16 x 4 x 2.5 inches, (2024).
As an artist and art history professor, I am influenced by historical works of art, in this case, “The Great Wave” by Katsushika Hokusai. The print depicts three boats moving through a tsunami-like sea, with Mount Fuji visible in the background. Hokusai was active during the Edo period of Japan.
The preeminence of this print may be attributed, in addition to its sheer graphic beauty, to the compelling force of the contrast between the wave and the mountain. The turbulent wave seems to tower above the viewer, whereas the tiny stable pyramid of Mount Fuji sits in the distance. The eternal mountain is envisioned in a single moment frozen in time. Hokusai characteristically cast a traditional theme in a novel interpretation. In the traditional meisho-e (scene of a famous place), Mount Fuji was always the focus of the composition. Hokusai inventively inverted this formula and positioned a small Mount Fuji within the midst of a thundering seascape. Foundering among the great waves are three boats thought to be barges conveying fish from the southern islands of Edo. Thus a scene of everyday labor is grafted onto the seascape view of the mountain.
Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave at Kanagawa (from a Series of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji), ca. 1831–33. Polychrome ink and color on paper, 10 1/8 x 14 15/16 in. Métropolitain Museum of Art, New York.
As for my sculpture, I tried to capture the joy of watching and listening to the waves as they crash along the ocean’s shore. Like Hokusai’s print, my sculpture is small, and simple in appearance, but it reminds us of ocean waves as they hurl toward us in ever creasing vigor.
Creating free standing ocean wave inspired sculptures is a new direction for me. I’ve been working on this idea for a few years now and can finally share these colorful ocean wave inspired sculptures with my collectors.
I love being inspired by art historical works of art, and feeling as though I am continuing where antlers artist left off. Who is your favorite artist? Have you created art based on their work? I’d love for you to share it with me here or on social media.
