Hokusai's great wave: Biography of a global icon
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VLIZ: General GEN.181 [103254]
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| Abstract |
No non-western artwork has been reproduced so widely or undergone so many reconfigurations in so many parts of the world as Hokusai’s “Under the Wave off Kanagawa,” commonly known as “The Great Wave.” Not only is it instantly recognizable, but familiarity with it has contributed to the way many people visualize waves today. Despite its iconic stature, however, historians have not explored its temporal and spatial migrations from Japan to distant parts of the world. This study examines the woodblock print, originally titled “Kanagawa oki no namiura” through its many articulations, arguing that since its publication in 1831 as part of Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, it has been a site where the tensions, contradictions, and, especially, the productive creativities of the local and the global have been negotiated and expressed. Through its iteration and reiteration across a multi-sited network, this arresting color print has participated, both as product and producer, in the still ongoing process of globalization. |
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