Red Fuji
Class: Art History III (Essay#3)
Date: 11/28/07
Red Fuji
Katsuhika Hokusai’s work, Red Fuji, from the Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji series (c1830-3) has simple, graphical shapes and primary colors by the wood block process of printing. This wood block printing interacted with new economical, political people in the Edo period when there was the need for new political ideas and economical ideas. Furthermore, it is turning point for the representative popular and common culture of printing at that time. This wood cut image has graphic line works with a simplicity that has symbolic meaning of Ukiyo (picture of floating world) to the viewer and painter. I want to say that how this wood block painting, Red Fuji, that represents the flooding world with color, line, and cultural meaning is influential painting in art history.
First, in terms of color, it is a polychrome wood block print painting that has red brown, green, black, white, red orange, sky blue. It is interesting to see the dynamic and powerful image through the complementary colors of black and white, green and red, and blue and yellow orange. Black color makes not only the shadow and depth and contour lines but also controls the foreground dominant color in order to show the moment of thunder’s sharpness. According to the theory of color, the red yellow color is the most distinguishable color that humans recognize, for example we easily see the traffic signal for caution or safety. Hokusai successfully expresses black color for the moment of dynamic and powerful lightening with red yellow.
In the background, the highest part of Mount Fuji over the thunder is still peaceful, sacred, and holy in white. Even though the foreground is an extremely dynamic moment, the top of Mount Fuji is in white snow that stands for innocent, holy, and sacred spiritual meaning with white clouds. The white clouds that gather under Fuji show the great highness of the mountain to Hokusai as an emotional and intentional expression.
In the center of the image or in the middle ground, which is the dominant red brown area of the mountain, it seems that the red brown expresses the power of the volcano that has dynamic fire inside. Especially, he expresses the other mountain next to Fuji in green color as a complementary color. In this moment, this dominant red Fuji is not just color but also a significant meaning to Hokusai and the Japanese. Red is an enthusiastic, energetic, and a potentially powerful color in color theory; this red color comes from the fire image but also emotional ideas of Hokusai. What is the fire in human life? It is essential to erect human culture with fire, and the color of fire people generally consider as red.
Eventually, black and white, green and red, and blue and red yellow makes his simple and powerful image of mountain Fuji. We can also see the difference of the positive area and the negative area with warm tones and cool tones. In the foreground, there is the black and red of mountain, and in the background perspective is the cool tones.
Second, we can see the fantastic idea of graphic illusion from Hokusai in the simple and abstract outlines of this image ‘Red Fuji’. Hokusai imagines the simple, big, and dominant triangle of Fuji Mountain with a natural line instead of rapid straight line work. Deleting the detail line works, the greatness of Fuji is more effectively self expressed by Hokusai. The mysterious triangle shape with a simple line work is a powerful image; furthermore, the simple design helps to communicate his essential idea to the viewer without meaningless luxury ornaments. Not only can we see the power of simplicity, but also we can see the various lines works, for example his clouds and thunder shape.
The shapes of clouds are also simple and a graphic idea form in this image, and he makes the shape of thunder an especially sharp and straight line work as a destructive and powerful moment expressing the picture of the flooding world. His simplicity means that spontaneous moment of his seeing instead of detail works, and he makes the shape with a simple line; the interesting thing is that the shape of the clouds is the most contrast form considering the shape of thunder. These abstract and graphical images of thunder come from his simplicity. The capturing of the fast and quick moment is a speedy sketch through his great insights, but also it is natural to be simple. The moment of thunder is an extremely short moment. Hokusai makes that image with simple line works like sketch lines look, and the thunder’s graphical sharpness makes a dynamic echo of sound.
Comparing his work, The Great Wave (Stokstad, Fig. 22-1), in this painting, we can also see the simple and graphical expression and Ukiyo. In terms of composition, The Great Wave, the left area much heavier than right area, it means that the right area has a big negative area in this image. Traditionally the right area is heavier than left area in composition, but this image has the dynamic motion in left area. Comparing Red Fuji that has more heavy weight in right area, this interesting dynamic composition accomplishes the flooding world image. The color in this image, The Great Wave, is composed of cool tone colors such as blue, white and neutral gray color without a red warm color for the flooding moment of the sea world. And this painting also dynamic simple abstract wave shapes like Red FuJi. We can see the great wave like moving mountain in this painting, the dynamic up lines of waves extremely well expressed the moment of the great nature, the peak of the main great wave has white area like Red Fuji in this painting The movements of great waves is thunder of Red Fuji. We can also the similar echoes in both paintings Red Fuji and The Great Wave; those are the simple and intensive graphic idea around Fuji in these paintings, with dynamic composition and intensive color in a great harmony and challengeable ideas.
Third, we can also think the importance of opening the door to the common culture and modernism from the wood block print making in Japan and art history. The characteristic of wood block painting is mass producing over and over to the customers who have money as commercial products and souvenirs of nineteen century. The new rich merchant class has big role in economical and political society, the irresistible big changes make high class printing familiar to the common people. The great flooding world image-Ukiyo-e is one of mental trends in Edo period.
Considering the art is product of the era, Red Fuji is diligently expressed well the floating world in Edo period. New period in Japan needed new idea of expression for big changes. People recognized the life is too speedy to enjoy in a daily life. The ideas of Ukiyo (floating world), and “Let’s enjoy it to the full as long as it lasts” (stokstad p831, 4pp) as a positive meaning did not need the heroes such as samurai or aristocratic poets of days any more. At this moment, Hokusai’s landscape wood block print joined the common idea of Ukiyo, his expression is not the idealized landscape of China with simple and graphical self expression in Red Fuji. We can also see the actual sights of Japan in his painting instead of the idealized mountain.
In conclusion, Hokusai shows the moment of the flooding world with a simple, dynamic, and graphic style in Red Fuji that is not copy of Chinese landscape painting. The tone of color in Red Fuji is based on intensive primary colors for simplicity. Furthermore, this wood block printing serves the common people’s culture over and over. It is big turning point to open the door to abstract and popular modernism in art history.
Reference
Katsushika Hokusai. South Wind, clear Dawn (“Red Fuji”) from the “Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji” series, c. 1830-3
Marilyn Stokstad, Art history,3rd edition
Date: 11/28/07
Red Fuji
Katsuhika Hokusai’s work, Red Fuji, from the Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji series (c1830-3) has simple, graphical shapes and primary colors by the wood block process of printing. This wood block printing interacted with new economical, political people in the Edo period when there was the need for new political ideas and economical ideas. Furthermore, it is turning point for the representative popular and common culture of printing at that time. This wood cut image has graphic line works with a simplicity that has symbolic meaning of Ukiyo (picture of floating world) to the viewer and painter. I want to say that how this wood block painting, Red Fuji, that represents the flooding world with color, line, and cultural meaning is influential painting in art history.
First, in terms of color, it is a polychrome wood block print painting that has red brown, green, black, white, red orange, sky blue. It is interesting to see the dynamic and powerful image through the complementary colors of black and white, green and red, and blue and yellow orange. Black color makes not only the shadow and depth and contour lines but also controls the foreground dominant color in order to show the moment of thunder’s sharpness. According to the theory of color, the red yellow color is the most distinguishable color that humans recognize, for example we easily see the traffic signal for caution or safety. Hokusai successfully expresses black color for the moment of dynamic and powerful lightening with red yellow.
In the background, the highest part of Mount Fuji over the thunder is still peaceful, sacred, and holy in white. Even though the foreground is an extremely dynamic moment, the top of Mount Fuji is in white snow that stands for innocent, holy, and sacred spiritual meaning with white clouds. The white clouds that gather under Fuji show the great highness of the mountain to Hokusai as an emotional and intentional expression.
In the center of the image or in the middle ground, which is the dominant red brown area of the mountain, it seems that the red brown expresses the power of the volcano that has dynamic fire inside. Especially, he expresses the other mountain next to Fuji in green color as a complementary color. In this moment, this dominant red Fuji is not just color but also a significant meaning to Hokusai and the Japanese. Red is an enthusiastic, energetic, and a potentially powerful color in color theory; this red color comes from the fire image but also emotional ideas of Hokusai. What is the fire in human life? It is essential to erect human culture with fire, and the color of fire people generally consider as red.
Eventually, black and white, green and red, and blue and red yellow makes his simple and powerful image of mountain Fuji. We can also see the difference of the positive area and the negative area with warm tones and cool tones. In the foreground, there is the black and red of mountain, and in the background perspective is the cool tones.
Second, we can see the fantastic idea of graphic illusion from Hokusai in the simple and abstract outlines of this image ‘Red Fuji’. Hokusai imagines the simple, big, and dominant triangle of Fuji Mountain with a natural line instead of rapid straight line work. Deleting the detail line works, the greatness of Fuji is more effectively self expressed by Hokusai. The mysterious triangle shape with a simple line work is a powerful image; furthermore, the simple design helps to communicate his essential idea to the viewer without meaningless luxury ornaments. Not only can we see the power of simplicity, but also we can see the various lines works, for example his clouds and thunder shape.
The shapes of clouds are also simple and a graphic idea form in this image, and he makes the shape of thunder an especially sharp and straight line work as a destructive and powerful moment expressing the picture of the flooding world. His simplicity means that spontaneous moment of his seeing instead of detail works, and he makes the shape with a simple line; the interesting thing is that the shape of the clouds is the most contrast form considering the shape of thunder. These abstract and graphical images of thunder come from his simplicity. The capturing of the fast and quick moment is a speedy sketch through his great insights, but also it is natural to be simple. The moment of thunder is an extremely short moment. Hokusai makes that image with simple line works like sketch lines look, and the thunder’s graphical sharpness makes a dynamic echo of sound.
Comparing his work, The Great Wave (Stokstad, Fig. 22-1), in this painting, we can also see the simple and graphical expression and Ukiyo. In terms of composition, The Great Wave, the left area much heavier than right area, it means that the right area has a big negative area in this image. Traditionally the right area is heavier than left area in composition, but this image has the dynamic motion in left area. Comparing Red Fuji that has more heavy weight in right area, this interesting dynamic composition accomplishes the flooding world image. The color in this image, The Great Wave, is composed of cool tone colors such as blue, white and neutral gray color without a red warm color for the flooding moment of the sea world. And this painting also dynamic simple abstract wave shapes like Red FuJi. We can see the great wave like moving mountain in this painting, the dynamic up lines of waves extremely well expressed the moment of the great nature, the peak of the main great wave has white area like Red Fuji in this painting The movements of great waves is thunder of Red Fuji. We can also the similar echoes in both paintings Red Fuji and The Great Wave; those are the simple and intensive graphic idea around Fuji in these paintings, with dynamic composition and intensive color in a great harmony and challengeable ideas.
Third, we can also think the importance of opening the door to the common culture and modernism from the wood block print making in Japan and art history. The characteristic of wood block painting is mass producing over and over to the customers who have money as commercial products and souvenirs of nineteen century. The new rich merchant class has big role in economical and political society, the irresistible big changes make high class printing familiar to the common people. The great flooding world image-Ukiyo-e is one of mental trends in Edo period.
Considering the art is product of the era, Red Fuji is diligently expressed well the floating world in Edo period. New period in Japan needed new idea of expression for big changes. People recognized the life is too speedy to enjoy in a daily life. The ideas of Ukiyo (floating world), and “Let’s enjoy it to the full as long as it lasts” (stokstad p831, 4pp) as a positive meaning did not need the heroes such as samurai or aristocratic poets of days any more. At this moment, Hokusai’s landscape wood block print joined the common idea of Ukiyo, his expression is not the idealized landscape of China with simple and graphical self expression in Red Fuji. We can also see the actual sights of Japan in his painting instead of the idealized mountain.
In conclusion, Hokusai shows the moment of the flooding world with a simple, dynamic, and graphic style in Red Fuji that is not copy of Chinese landscape painting. The tone of color in Red Fuji is based on intensive primary colors for simplicity. Furthermore, this wood block printing serves the common people’s culture over and over. It is big turning point to open the door to abstract and popular modernism in art history.
Reference
Katsushika Hokusai. South Wind, clear Dawn (“Red Fuji”) from the “Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji” series, c. 1830-3
Marilyn Stokstad, Art history,3rd edition
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