The Kanagawa Wave

Last night, while I was opening my Mozilla Firefox, I was redirected to Mozilla's web-page and faced several options to dress up my browser with 'Personas', the browser's themes. And there was a theme which caught by my eyes. The title is 'Kanagawa Wave'. Here's the captured image of some theme-options.


I seemed to be reminded again of similar images... Then I recalled that it was one of the cross stitch design I've had in my library (..still cross stitch matters on my mind this past few days....).
Here's the preview of the cross stitch design. The wave is on the right.



These wave images stick in my mind because I've also seen similar designs in one book given by my younger brother. It's an interior book Contemporary Eastern by Alice Whately. The wave is applied on a tea set.























Then earlier today I started to browse about it, because it seems that the wave is so popular.. Then I googled 'Kanagawa Wave' on my browser....




So, it is popular...!! Here's the result from Wikipedia.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa (神奈川沖浪裏, Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura, lit. "Under a Wave off Kanagawa") is a famous woodblock print by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). It was published in 1832 (Edo Period) as the first in Hokusai's series 36 Views of Mount Fuji and is his most famous work. It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats near the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa. As in all the other prints in the series, Mount Fuji can be seen in the background. While sometimes assumed to be a tsunami, the wave is more likely to be a large okinami. (Japanese "ocean wave".) Like the other prints in the series, it depicts the area around Mount Fuji under particular conditions.


Copies of the print are in many Western collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the British Museum in London, and in Claude Monet's house in Giverny, France.

Like other well known Japanese prints, the Great Wave has been frequently copied using the same techniques, as well as reproduced by photo-mechanical means. These copies are often confused with the authentic original print.

The print is one of the most reproduced artworks in the world, and was one of the subjects of the BBC documentary series, "The Private Life of a Masterpiece", which detailed the fascination surrounding the work in the East and West, its influence, and the artist's insights into a number of different areas, as revealed through the piece.

The print is the subject of episode 93 of the radio series A History of the World in 100 Objects, to be broadcast in September 2010.

The logo for Quiksilver, inc. is derived from the Great Wave.

There we go... No wonder I've been loving the cross stitch design since the first time I saw it, so I kept the file of the design in my folder. I think it's very bold and dramatic image... Could this be my next project? Mmmmmm.. let's check my DMC's stock first...