Introduction
Hokusai's art has influenced popular culture since its first overseas appearance in 1867 in France. From comics to fashion, with stops in novels and emojis, the art of Hokusai has made a great wave with its worldwide impact.
Influences in Visual Art
- How Hokusai's Great Wave crashed into Van Gogh's Starry NightMartin Bailey, a specialist on Van Gogh, believes the painter was influenced by Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa as he was known to admire him.
- How Hokusai’s Art Crashed Over the Modern WorldThe MFA Boston shows how one of the greatest printmakers, from Edo Japan, inspired a tidal wave of followers, from Gauguin to Lichtenstein.
- How Japonisme Forever Changed the Course of Western DesignIn the late 19th century, Japanese aesthetics and craftsmanship overtook Paris, inspiring a movement that would radically transform Europe’s visual culture.
- The Wave or The BathersThe sculpture The Wave or the Bathers by Camille Claudel takes inspiration from The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai, using onyx marble and bronze.
Literary Appearances
Hokusai's The Great Wave Off Kanagawa is featured in the book Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, as the background to the blockbuster video game the main characters create at the beginning of their careers. The video game, called Ichigo, follows a young kid who loses contact with their parents when a large tsunami (The Great Wave) hits their village.
The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck follows two boys named Kino and Jiya living in neighboring villages in Japan. When a large tsunami sweeps over Jiya's fishing village, he gets support form Kino and his father. The cover art has a clear resemblance to Hokusai's The Great Wave and the themes of the destructive powers of tsunamis strengthen the connection.
The art of Hokusai appears again in a Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction novella by Roger Zelazny called 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai. The story follows a widow as she travels to Japan to visit some of the sites that Hokusai painted for his Views of Mt. Fuji series.
Rainer Maria Rilke's poem Der Berg (The Mountain) is about Hokusai's obsession in depicting Mt. Fuji over and over again, in various seasons and scenes.
Musical Connections
- Hokusai and Debussy's Evocations of the SeaHokusai's work as a point of inspiration for Debussy was solidified by the composer's use of a detail crop of "the Great Wave" on the cover of the 1905 first edition of La Mer.
Other Pop Culture Connections
- The Great WaveFashion designer John Galliano was inspired by Japonism and featured Hokusai's The Great Wave on a dress in his Spring 2007 Dior Couture show.
- Hokusai's Wave of InfluencesDive a little deeper into artworks that inspired and were inspired by Japanese woodblock artist Katsushika Hokusai.
- Sea Is for Cookie, A Mashup of Cookie Monster and Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’“Sea Is for Cookie”, a funny photo mashup of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster and The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
- This is America: The cultural significance behind these emojisLearn about the origin of various emojis, including the wave emoji, which was based on Hokusai's The Great Wave.