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Things to know about the Great Wave

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Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#41

Post by KPGv2 »

zwayhowder wrote: post #27
teo_zero wrote: post #20

> If not the most famous artwork in the world Wait, what?? Am I the only one who thinks this sentence is off by an order of magnitude? I'd bet that the Great Wave is not even one of the 10 most famous. Unfortunately I have no evidence to support my statement...

One thing that I fully internalised only recently - despite learning Asian languages for literally decades. The things western people take for granted as ubiquitous in our culture are often unknown to Asian cultures. As an example recently talking to a Japanese friend who is the same age as me we realised she had seen less than 10% of the movies that "everyone born in the early 80's has seen". She didn't know who OJ…

> She knew the Backstreet Boys & One Direction, but not Take That nor East 17

Not even Americans are likely to know who Take That and East 17 are. I'm a middle-aged American, university educated, have even lived abroad, and most in my circle of equally educated and well-traveled friends would consider particularly hip to cultural trends of the late 20th century.

I've literally never even heard of East 17, and I am vaguely aware of Take That being a band, but if you hadn't included them in the same sentence as BSB and 1D (whose members I cannot name except for Zane and Harry, plus there's an Irish guy??), I wouldn't have even clocked "oh yeah, that's a band I've heard mentioned a couple times in my life"

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#42

Post by timthorn »

teo_zero wrote: post #20

> If not the most famous artwork in the world Wait, what?? Am I the only one who thinks this sentence is off by an order of magnitude? I'd bet that the Great Wave is not even one of the 10 most famous. Unfortunately I have no evidence to support my statement...

Not that a single data point is particularly useful, but I'd never come across it before reading the article.

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#43

Post by KPGv2 »

tptacek wrote: post #39
teo_zero wrote: post #20

> If not the most famous artwork in the world Wait, what?? Am I the only one who thinks this sentence is off by an order of magnitude? I'd bet that the Great Wave is not even one of the 10 most famous. Unfortunately I have no evidence to support my statement...

Well, both the Met and the Art Institute of Chicago disagree with you on that. One thing that'll throw you off, mentioned in the article: the Wave isn't a painting, and if you look for artwork rankings (it's the Internet, of course these exist) they tend to rank paintings. The Waves at the Art Institute aren't their most iconic, popular pieces; that honor probably goes to Seurat's Sunday Afternoon. I should get back…

> The Waves at the Art Institute aren't their most iconic, popular pieces; that honor probably goes to Seurat's Sunday Afternoon.

Well, there's only one Sunday Afternoon, but if you have a few thousand dollars, you, too, can own an original Waves, since there's no such thing as "the" original when you're talking about collecting prints.

Much like there isn't a "one" Warhol soup can painting. These artists' works were infinitely replicable even in their own day. That's why in the Japanese art world, prints produced in the artist's lifetime are all considered original because they would've all been made by the same hand, or an assistant's.

EDIT: After googling, it appears that it's estimated 8,000 copies of the Great Wave were made by Hokusai, but that few of them still exist. That's surprising to me, honestly. One recently sold for $2.7 million, apparently, and I couldn't believe that search result. My mistake!

EDIT 2: That being said, the British Museum alone owns three original Great Wave copies.

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#44

Post by yumraj »

bdowling wrote: post #33
AnonHP wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historical Japanese text, written vertically, is read top to bottom and right to left (like in those prints). On the other hand, more modern text (including what’s more common now) is read left to right when written horizontally. There are some more variations on directionality. Nevertheless, the picture does look and convey a different impression when flipped.

It’s rare in modern times, but sometimes you may encounter a sign board written horizontally right-to-left, as in this sign above the front entrance to the Nippon Budōkan: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nippon_Budokan_-_2...

How does one know whether to read left to right or right to left? Or is it clear from the text?

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#45

Post by tptacek »

KPGv2 wrote: post #43
tptacek wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, both the Met and the Art Institute of Chicago disagree with you on that. One thing that'll throw you off, mentioned in the article: the Wave isn't a painting, and if you look for artwork rankings (it's the Internet, of course these exist) they tend to rank paintings. The Waves at the Art Institute aren't their most iconic, popular pieces; that honor probably goes to Seurat's Sunday Afternoon. I should get back…

> The Waves at the Art Institute aren't their most iconic, popular pieces; that honor probably goes to Seurat's Sunday Afternoon. Well, there's only one Sunday Afternoon, but if you have a few thousand dollars, you, too, can own an original Waves, since there's no such thing as "the" original when you're talking about collecting prints. Much like there isn't a "one" Warhol soup can painting. These artists' works were…

Right, the question here is whether the Wave itself is among the world's most famous works of art; the answer seems pretty clearly to be "yes". I threw the Seurat thing in as sort of a preemptive rebuttal to the idea that the Art Institute would hype up the Waves just because it has them. :)

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#47

Post by wslh »

rachofsunshine wrote: post #28
adamgordonbell wrote: post #13

I first encountered it in a class where we looked at the whole series. It gives this sense of Japan being very diverse of setting, but always in the shadows of Fuji. I've not been to Japan, and not sure of the accuracy of the size of Fuji but it does make it feel like wherever you are, Fuji is there watching.

Posters who have been to Seattle on a sunny day in summer may have a point of reference. Mount Rainier, at a bit over 14,000 feet, is just a bit taller than Mt. Fuji (a bit over 12,000), and both are similarly-shaped stratovolcanoes. Kanagawa Prefecture (the "Kanagawa" in the print's name) is part of the greater Tokyo area, so a wave "off Kanagawa" is either in Tokyo Bay or in the Pacific just outside of it. Wikipedi…

True, Mount Aconcagua (~23,000 feet) is way taller, but it doesn’t feel as dramatic as Fuji or Rainier because it’s surrounded by other big peaks in the Andes. Kilimanjaro could be another one to compare since it’s tall and stands out on its own like Fuji and Rainier, but there’s something about Fuji’s perfect symmetry that really sets it apart. If you’re looking for another mountain with that kind of shape, check out Mount Mayon, it’s smaller, but the cone is almost perfect.

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#48

Post by sieste »

danielvaughn wrote: post #19

I've always loved this piece of art, and other similar works. One of my favorite contemporary Japanese artists borrows from that tradition, and I never get a chance to plug her work so I'll link to it here. Her name is Asuka Ohsawa: https://www.asukaohsawa.com/drawings-2#/archive/

I love this style. You say "one of my favourite", can you recommend more artists in that genre?

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#49

Post by wglb »

KPGv2 wrote: post #43
tptacek wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, both the Met and the Art Institute of Chicago disagree with you on that. One thing that'll throw you off, mentioned in the article: the Wave isn't a painting, and if you look for artwork rankings (it's the Internet, of course these exist) they tend to rank paintings. The Waves at the Art Institute aren't their most iconic, popular pieces; that honor probably goes to Seurat's Sunday Afternoon. I should get back…

> The Waves at the Art Institute aren't their most iconic, popular pieces; that honor probably goes to Seurat's Sunday Afternoon. Well, there's only one Sunday Afternoon, but if you have a few thousand dollars, you, too, can own an original Waves, since there's no such thing as "the" original when you're talking about collecting prints. Much like there isn't a "one" Warhol soup can painting. These artists' works were…

According to the article:

> The Art Institute is fortunate to have three prints of The Great Wave, all original editions.

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#50

Post by rococode »

yumraj wrote: post #44
bdowling wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s rare in modern times, but sometimes you may encounter a sign board written horizontally right-to-left, as in this sign above the front entrance to the Nippon Budōkan: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nippon_Budokan_-_2...

How does one know whether to read left to right or right to left? Or is it clear from the text?

It's usually clear from context.

That sign in particular says "Martial Arts Hall" ("budokan" / 武道館) from right to left.

Imagine an alternate universe where English could also be read left-to-right or right-to-left. If you were to see a sign saying "Hall Arts Martial", you'd immediately know the right way to read it.

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