ID: 700000091 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700000091	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (color woodcut; Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849); published by Nishi...; ca. 1830-1832; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, U...; JP1847)

Note: The Museum has four impressions of this print; this one is JP1847. The breathtaking composition of this woodblock print, said to have inspired Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea) and Rilke’s Der Berg (The Mountain), ensures its reputation as an icon of world art. Hokusai cleverly played with perspective to make Japan’s grandest mountain appear as a small triangular mound within the hollow of the cresting wave. The artist became famous for his landscapes created using a palette of indigo and imported Prussian blue. The large wave dominates the scene, with the small mountain in the background. From the famous series Series of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. 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 (modern Tokyo). Thus a scene of everyday labor is grafted onto the seascape view of the mountain.

Titles:

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (preferred,C,U,RP,English,U,U)

The Great Wave (C,U,PO,English,U,U)

Great Wave at Kanagawa (C,U,English-P,U,U)

In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa (C,U,English,U,U)

Kanagawa oki nami ura (C,U,Japanese (transliterated),U,U)

「富嶽三十六景　神奈川沖浪裏」 (C,U,Japanese,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

color woodcut (print) [300041412] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>, prints (visual works), <prints by process or technique>, <prints by process: transfer method>, relief prints, woodcuts (prints))

Classifications:

prints (preferred)

Asian art

Creation Date: ca. 1830-1832

Creator Display:

Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849); published by Nishimura Eijudo (Japanese, 19th century) [preferred,VP]

printmaker Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese printmaker, painter, 1760-1849) [500060426]

publishers Nishimura Eijudo (Japanese publishing house, 18th-19th centuries) [500312961]

Locations:

Other: Creation: Nihon [1000120] Asia (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Current: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, United States) [500125157] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: JP1847

Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929

Display Materials: woodcut, polychrome ink and color on paper

	colored ink [300126356]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>, ink, <ink by property>)

	color (pigment) [300264870]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>)

	paper (fiber product) [300014109]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>)

	woodcut (process) [300053296]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <image-making processes and techniques>, <printing and printing processes and techniques>, printing processes, relief printing processes)

Dimensions: 25.7 x 37.9 cm (10 1/8 x 14 15/16 inches)

Cultures:

Japanese (preferred)

Style/Period/Group/Movement:

	Edo (Japanese period) [300106643] (preferred,N/A)
	.....(Styles and Periods Facet, Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), <styles| periods| and cultures by region>, Asian, East Asian, Japanese (culture or style), Early Modern Japanese)

General Subject:

seascapes (preferred,description)

Specific Subjects:

	Fuji, Mount [1107685]
	.....(Honshu (island), Japan (nation), Asia (continent), World (facet)) (TGN)

	Kanagawa [1004811]
	.....(Yokohama (inhabited place), Kanagawa Prefecture (prefecture), Japan (nation), Asia (continent), World (facet)) (TGN)

	wave (natural event) [300343616]
	.....(Activities Facet, Events (hierarchy name), events (activities), natural events) (AAT)

	boat [300178749]
	.....(Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Transportation Vehicles (hierarchy name), vehicles (transportation), watercraft, <watercraft by general type>) (AAT)

	fishermen (people) [300025608]
	.....(Agents Facet, People (hierarchy name), people (agents), <people by occupation>, <people in agriculture or natural resource occupations>) (AAT)

Outside Iconography:

	Code: 25H2311 Term: wave
	.....Source: Iconclass Illustrated Edition (2022-)

	Code: 25H23124 Term: tidal wave
	.....Source: Iconclass Illustrated Edition (2022-)

	Code: sh 85052253 Term: Fuji, Mount (Japan)
	.....Source: Library of Congress Authorities online (2002-)

Related Works:

	printed from same plate/block .... Under the Wave off Kanagawa [700008757]
	..........color woodcut; Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849); published by Nishi...; ca. 1830-1832; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, U...; JP2972

	printed from same plate/block .... Under the Wave off Kanagawa [700008758]
	..........color woodcut; Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849); published by Nishi...; ca. 1830-1832; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, U...; JP2569

	printed from same plate/block .... Under the Wave off Kanagawa [700008759]
	..........color woodcut; Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849); published by Nishi...; ca. 1830-1832; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, U...; JP10

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

..... Conceptual Works

.......... Conceptual Works by class: for movable works

............... Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: First Series

.................... Great Wave off Kanagawa

Additional Notes:

Spanish ..... Esta estampa es la obra más conocida de Hokusai y la primera de su famosa serie Treinta y seis vistas del monte Fuji. Del molde utilizado se realizaron varias miles de copias, muchas de las cuales llegaron a manos de coleccionistas europeos.

Sources and Contributors:
Under the Wave off Kanagawa	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)
The Great Wave	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)
Great Wave at Kanagawa	........ [VP]
	........ CDWA online (1995-)
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)
In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)
Kanagawa oki nami ura	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)
「富嶽三十六景　神奈川沖浪裏」	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

....................... Encyclopedia Britannica Online (2002-)

....................... Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-) accessed 10 October 2010
Spanish	..... [VP]
	..... Encyclopedia Britannica Online (2002-)