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Things to know about the Great Wave

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Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#51

Post by plasma_beam »

litenboll wrote: post #24
kaycebasques wrote: post #2

Wow! Never thought about it like this before: > Because Japanese text is read from right to left, the earliest viewers of The Great Wave would have likely read the print that way too, first encountering the boaters and then meeting the great claw of water about to swallow them. So instead of riding along with the gargantuan wave as you might in a left-to-right reading, they would face right into the massive wall of o…

I feel really dumb, but I have never even noticed the boats. In the reversed I see them very clearly, but in the original the wave is completely dominating the view (now I see the boats of course, but my focus is completely on the wave by default).

Even dumber, I never noticed Mt. Fuji was in the pic, focus was truly on the wave.

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#52

Post by n_plus_1_acc »

KPGv2 wrote: post #40
cubefox wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I didn't know that! I thought vertical text was a thing of the past. Interesting.

I own a bunch of novels in Japanese, and every single one is vertically-written. Same with all the comic books I own. I think maybe a couple children's manga I had years ago were horizontally-written, but we're talking something I haven't laid eyes on in decades, so I might be mis-remembering.

Mangas often mix and match, depenfong on what best fits the image.

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#53

Post by sdrothrock »

cubefox wrote: post #12
anigbrowl wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true of documents, text messages, social media etc., but most books, magazines and other printed matter are still done vertically and R-L.

Wow, I didn't know that! I thought vertical text was a thing of the past. Interesting.

Novels are often written vertically as well, so it's fairly common still.

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#54

Post by danielvaughn »

sieste wrote: post #48
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?

Her exact style is fairly unique, which is why I’m such a fan. But another great example is Hisashi Tenmyouya:

http://tenmyouya.com

If the strong graphic lines are what appeal to you, I could also recommend Takashi Murakami. He’s somewhat polar opposite of the previous two, but I love his work as well: https://www.takaoka-art.com/collections/takashi-murakami

And finally, my favorite contemporary artist period is named James Jean, a Taiwanese artist: http://www.jamesjean.com/

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#55

Post by hiisukun »

One thing that strikes me about this work, and Hokusai's other very popular wood block prints, is that he was a total perfectionist.

He would get things juuuust right, with the colour and the production process, with each copy made, then score/scratch the original so further prints could not be made to a different fashion/standard.

For him to be alive and see bright and garish "Great wave" socks, jumpers, room rugs, key rings and the like would probably cause him such a great conniption he'd drop right back dead again.

But such is the life of popular art work -- it survives its creator and lives by new rules over time.

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#56

Post by skhr0680 »

AnonHP wrote: post #9
kaycebasques wrote: post #2

Wow! Never thought about it like this before: > Because Japanese text is read from right to left, the earliest viewers of The Great Wave would have likely read the print that way too, first encountering the boaters and then meeting the great claw of water about to swallow them. So instead of riding along with the gargantuan wave as you might in a left-to-right reading, they would face right into the massive wall of o…

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.

Horizontal right-to-left was common historically

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#58

Post by kinj28 »

AnonHP wrote: post #9
kaycebasques wrote: post #2

Wow! Never thought about it like this before: > Because Japanese text is read from right to left, the earliest viewers of The Great Wave would have likely read the print that way too, first encountering the boaters and then meeting the great claw of water about to swallow them. So instead of riding along with the gargantuan wave as you might in a left-to-right reading, they would face right into the massive wall of o…

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.

I wonder the logic and even history of why right to left came into being. Is there any benefit in choosing a directionality of one vs another.

One thing that comes to my mind- book binding is done on the left edge of the book/news paper. So if folds are created you would go read left paper first and then to the right. Now if you are parsing left to right at higher level- At lower level wouldn’t it become consistency of UX to offer left to right reading?

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#59

Post by canpan »

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.

You can see Mount Fuji from ridiculous far away. It is a real "lone mountain". While there are higher mountains in the Swiss alps, they are in between other mountains.

Map from where Fuji can be seen (Japanese) https://info.jmc.or.jp/fujisankoko/

Re: Things to know about the Great Wave

#60

Post by SoftTalker »

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...

I agree, reading the subject article is the first time I've ever seen it that I can remember.
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