GREAT WAVE

I'm always delighted to find a garment that depicts an actual artwork, because it embodies the relationship between art and clothing. The print on this vintage dress takes as its subject one of the most well-known Japanese prints, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

The work is part of the collection of prints entitled Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku Sanjuroku-kei), by Katsushika Hokusai.

Hokusai was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the Edo Period.

From Tokyo (then known as Edo), he used works like Thirty-Six Views reflect the importance of domestic travel within an isolated country as well as his own personal infatuation with the majestic Mount Fuji.

Hokusai was known by over 30 different names during his lifetime, many of which he changed to relate to a new departure in his work or artistic period in his life.

Before Hokusai, ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock) prints focused on portraiture and depictions of courtesans and actors, but Hokusai established nature and landscape as viable subjects.

Due to Japan's policy of isolation, Hokusai did not achieve overseas fame until after his death, but eventually influenced Art Nouveau and Impressionism.

I'm wearing a vintage 1970s dress from Bygones, L.A.M.B. shoes, a vintage leather clutch, and necklace from my Aunt.

[Hokusai images from blog.shopkoshka.com and wikipaintings.org.]