Kasushika Hokusai Analysis

Many artists explore their personal journeys within their artworks, as a way of understanding their emotions and the world around them, as well as discovering their identity. Sarah Fordham’s art is inspired by her experiences including her travels around the world, and also as a way to make sense of her thoughts, ideas and emotions. These elements are displayed in bright colours, incorporating symbols and patterns in her work. Her two artworks being analysed are called “The Big Call” and “Pokeepskie”.

My first work is "La Primavera" written by the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi in 1723. “La Primavera” is one of four violin concertos, each capturing moods and illustrating stories related to a specific time of year. Each section within this movement illustrate the most beautiful scenes of the spring season, including birds, babbling brooks, and a thunderstorm. (Soomo). My second work is an oil on canvas painting, titled “The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” by Thomas Moran. “The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” was painted in 1872 and captures the unique geological formations and diverse and extravagant colors of the Midwestern United States landscape. The common theme shared by both of the chosen pieces of work is nature. Antonio Vivaldi embraces the spring season and captures the moods and illustrates stories specific to that time of year. Moran captured the true beauty of a Midwestern landscape of the United States. Although one work is musical piece and the other is a landscape painting, both capture the beauty of nature and the surrounding elements.

I have chosen Romanticism/ Post Impressionism, Olive Trees with yellow sky and sun, by Vincent Van Gogh; The Oxbow, by Thomas Cole, comparing it to the “Spirit Rising, by Christophe Vacher”.

The Painting I chose is called “Mixtec Culture.” And it was painted by Diego Rivera in 1942, Mexico. It’s a Fresco style painting, which is “a wall painting technique that has been used for large scale murals since ancient times” (Getlein 159). This entire painting is an homage to the culture of Mexico, specifically the Mixtec people, and that’s what I love about it. The Mixtec people were renowned for their artwork so it’s fitting that Rivera depicts a peaceful community of artists such as mask and jewelry makers. This painting celebrates the artistic culture of the Mixtec people and that theme is directly linked to the political influences of the time, “Mexican government commissioned artists to create murals about Mexico itself- the glories

The piece of art that I have chosen is Roxy Paine’s Conjoined created in 2007. This is a representational piece depicting a pair of trees taken from nature and joined by their branches. The trees themselves are cylindrical, smooth and shiny from all angles. They reflect light from all sides creating a mirror like appearance.

I like a lot of Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings because they all have very bright colors and they really stand out. They also have very smooth textures. The colors blend really well

Every painter has a certain style of painting, whether it's intentional to paint abstract or unintentional to paint as a modernist. I analyzed Abigail Kuchar’s artwork. She is an artist at Western Washington University. Currently, she is enrolled as a student and working on her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Recently, she exhibited her work in a Symbiotic Qualia, Western Gallery (group BFA Thesis Exhibition). Her ideas on visuals are very unique as compare to another artist. Her work is heavily influenced by reoccurring natural forms and patterns, representing, the specific shapes that have been successful in a variety of different applications. For example, the formation of bubbles, lichen, barnacles, anemones, spores, pollen, and seed pods, all have similar compositions. By creating work that includes these forms, the viewer is presented with something unusual, but vaguely familiar. Her material used in the artwork is environment-friendly.

Japan is been always known for their unique artstyle, but none is more influential on both Japanese and western cultural than Katsushika Hokusai. Many consider his paintings the pinnacle of art in the Edo period. The old man of many names is a true part of both japanese and art culture.

“Filling the Void,” a mixed media piece by Kris Risto, utilizes both impressive artistic ability, as evidenced by the painting and creativity, which can be seen in the physical pieces that project from the painting. The compliment of reds and yellows, along with the galaxy-esque background in the middle create remarkable contrasts that beg to be seen. This painting draws attention to itself through the brilliant “fiery” shades then captivates viewers as they delve deeper into the meaning of the painting. The main focus is a human-like figure, kneeling on rocks, some of which are actual stones placed at the foot of the painting. Furthermore, with two candles in each hand, the figure has a bright “halo” of light around the head. Though it is up to interpretation, I believe this could link to finding light in the darkness or even good in bad. In addition to the inspirational message, the flowers coming outside the painting added another touch of uniqueness. The flowers, along with the galaxy and eyes along the side, were somewhat out of place in this obscure scene but seemed just right. Somehow, the artist made their vision clear through unexpected

Japanese art, and even the Egyptian art where I could appreciate the complexity of mummies.

Nevertheless, we maintain our resilience and continue. We run and skip, as we are still waiting to be woken up from what we believe to be a dream. Everywhere we peek is filled with the riches of the earth. To our left are the mountains that fear no man or animal, that stand to be a motif of nature’s beauty, and to our right is a waterfall that claims all purity and bliss. We marvel at the waterfall’s grace, her excellence in how each rock is aesthetically positioned just right, and how each crash of water sounds like a symphony. We are in love. As we continue our path we are then struck by the lake, the unquestionable base of the glacier. It hits me like a freight train going one thousand miles an hour. I was not ready for the sight that now refuses to leave my inner psyche. Right in front of me is everything I have been waiting for, the tranquil lake that seems to have never met man’s wrath and the snowcapped mountains that envelope the lake, making for a picture that is more than Instagram worthy. Although we made it to our destination, however, we are still not done. We continue up the glacier, up the ridge until we are truly on top of the world, everything about this is ethereal. The crisp wind that carries the sweet scent of the pine cones, the bright sun that kisses my face ever so gently, and the view that will never cease to inspire

The piece I chose is Pablo Picasso’s “Nude combing her hair”. I first saw it at the Kimbell Art Museum and remember admiring it. It was finished in 1906 and is oil paint on canvas. The main (only) figure in this painting is a nude woman, standing, who appears to be combing through her hair with her fingers after bathing. Although abstract, Picasso creates a very elegant, raw, and naturalistic form using color, space, and his depiction of figure.

The influence of Katsushika Hokusai’s artworks is tremendous and extensive in western art history. For instance, Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji inspired Claude Monet’s Haystack, Snow Effect in the year 1891. More specifically, as National Museum of Australia demonstrates that The technique of depiction of the forms about escarpment and lines of trees emerging in icy morning mists of Monet was came from In Shichirigahama in Sagami Province by Hokusai.

The painting I chose was a painting of Chrysanthemums by Pablo Picasso. It is a very simple and straightforward, yet captivating image. The way the petals on the flowers were painted are very interesting, each of them were created with unique stroke of the brush. Picasso obviously wanted viewers to focus only flowers as the foreground and background were left somewhat rugged and undetailed. At first it may be hard to notice, however, it can be seen that the source of light for the picture is on the left as the right side is painted with slightly darker colors. When positioned directly in front of the painting the flowers actually do not seem as flowers at all. Only until you move farther back will the blurry strokes of white and red actually

Here we are going to talk about our two paintings in more detail and The First Landscape Painting for discussion is Uragami Shunkin, Spring landscape, 1821, Ink on silk. This large painting has many Japanese traits but also carries over numerous Chinese