Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai was born on the 31st of October 1760 and he died on the 10^th of May 1849. He was a print maker of the Edo Period in Japan. The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of his prints from the Thirty six views of Mount Fuji series is what I am writing about. The Print was created between 1829 and 1832 and is a landscape. In this print which is famously known for the use of the waves and shows Mount Fuji in the back ground, he uses his colours well in this Print to show the blues streaks of the sea and the obvious use of white, the white has been used to show also to represent the snow over mountain as it falls from the sea. The waves are very stiff like mountains and look like they are frozen as they blend with Mount Fuji in the back ground. Hokusai doesn’t use more than four colours in the print and keeps it simple. For the sky he uses a gradient affect for the sky in red in contrast to the waves. The red around Fuji draws your eyes to the centre of the print. The Men in the Boats on this print look as if they are about to be drowned if the scene had not been frozen. When I look at this print I see waves that are coming out the print making the viewer feel like they are part of his print. What I like is how Hokusai brings the waves to look like mountains and blends them which is very impressive.