A Wave From The East - Beach Towel

Katsushika Hokusai. Lived 1760-1849

Japanese artist Katsushika used stylised shapes, thick outlines of Prussian blue ink and flat blocks of vivid colour, a bit like a graphic novel. People in Japan bought his prints of popular or sacred sites as souvenirs. When people in industrialised Europe saw them they thought Japan was an unspoiled paradise!

By studying Hokusai’s work closely, how he used the colour blue for outlines, his print techniques and how the colours brighten or fade with each print, show his influence of later modernist artists, like Van Gogh, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustave Klimt and Degas and those in the Popart movement.

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), also known as the Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjûrokkei)
Edo period, about 1830-1831
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and colour on paper

Under the Wave off Kanagawa has become one of the most iconic works of Japanese art, and one of the most famous in the art world. Also known at ‘The Great Wave’, Hokusai produced thousands of copies of this woodblock print in her series titled ‘Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji’.
Printed with ink and colour on 10x14 inch paper, this print shows the wave dominating the image, rather than Mount Fuji. Seen just before this menacing wave engulfs the fishing boats below, Hokusai captured the drama of this scene, giving the perspective that the mountain - Mount Fuji - may too be swallowed by the crashing wave. One for optical illusions, popular in the early 19th century, the spray from the water, also looks like snow falling onto the mountain, and this composition frames Mount Fuji.

• 52% cotton, 48% polyester
• Fabric weight: 10.6 oz/y² (360 g/m²)
• Size: 30″ × 60″ × 0.28″ (76 × 152 × 0.7 cm)
• Printed on one side only
• The non-printed side is made of terry fabric, making the towel more water-absorbent
• Blank product sourced from China