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Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849). Under the Wave Off Kanagawa (The Great Wave) (Kanagawa oki nami ura), from the...
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Sold on Mar 20, 2025 for:
$425,000.00
Bid Source: HA.com/Live bidder
Description
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849)Under the Wave Off Kanagawa (The Great Wave) (Kanagawa oki nami ura), from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei), circa 1831
Woodblock print embellished with light mica powder
9-7/8 x 14-5/8 inches (25.1 x 37.1 cm) (sheet, oban)
Signed: Hokusai aratame Iitsu hitsu
Published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo)
Additional impressions of this work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago; the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; The British Museum, London; the Tokyo National Museum; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and the Bavarian State Library, Munich.
The tide churns, restless and insistent, its darkened swells dragging against the shore. A distant bell tolls, its hollow clang swallowed by the wind, a call or perhaps, a warning. A fishing boat rocks uneasily, its silhouette stark against the first embers of dawn, as men move with practiced urgency, hands rough with salt and toil. Overhead, a crane slices through the bruised sky, its wings motionless, gliding like a silent omen. The wind sharpens, carrying the briny breath of the sea, thick with the scent of fish and damp wood. The world quivers on the cusp of something vast, something unseen, caught between the lull of the night and the inevitability of daybreak.
-----
The Great Wave rises, clawed and snarling, as if some ancient sea spirit had stirred from slumber. Its fingers curl, cresting over fragile wooden boats, while Mount Fuji-sacred and serene-rests in the background, unmoved by the tempest of the tide. This contrast is deliberate, a masterstroke of composition. The stillness of the mountain is a silent observer of nature's fury, an eternal presence amid the transient.
Katsushika Hokusai, a man who often referred to himself as the "Old Man Mad About Painting," understood the tension between man and nature and conjured a wave that would never break within that understanding. His vision was not one of simple documentation but of storytelling, balance, and chaos locked in a perpetual dance. The fishermen press forward, bending to their oars, accepting their fate as one accepts the changing seasons. They are both insignificant and resilient; their struggle dwarfed yet dignified beneath the towering wave.
Water, for Hokusai, was more than a subject-it was an obsession, a force both immutable and ever-changing. Throughout his prolific career, he returned to it time and again, tracing its many forms, from the gentle trickle of mountain streams to the wild tumult of ocean squalls. In his Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, rivers twist like silver veins through the countryside while rain swells the Sumida River, carrying boats along its shifting currents. His waterfalls cascade with a geometric elegance, each drop rendered with an almost mathematical precision. To him, water was a storyteller, a shapeshifter, a mirror to the human condition, sometimes calm, sometimes violent, but always in motion. It was the great equalizer, indifferent to wealth or status, binding fishermen and poets alike in its ceaseless ebb and flow. In The Great Wave, this philosophy reaches its zenith, as the sea becomes both predator and muse, its endless cycle of destruction and renewal immortalized in ink.
Prussian blue stains the body of the wave, a pigment borrowed from distant shores. It carries whispers of trade routes, of a Japan looking outward even as it fiercely preserved its own traditions. This color-deeper, richer, more enduring than the vegetable-based blues of the past-was a revelation. Before its arrival, blue was fleeting, a shade that faded too quickly beneath the sun's gaze. But Prussian blue, with its iron grip on the paper's fibers, did not yield. It deepened the shadows of Hokusai's wave, gave depth to its curling talons, and allowed it to possess a ghostly permanence as if the ocean itself had been pressed into ink. It was an outsider's color, brought in through the Dutch traders at Dejima, smuggled in barrels and bottles, changing the very face of ukiyo-e. In its pigment lay a contradiction: a self-isolated nation reaching unknowingly toward the world beyond, its art infused with foreign elements even as it spoke an unmistakably Japanese language.
Beyond the paper, beyond the pigment, the Edo of the 1830s was a city on the brink of transformation. Its wooden bridges arched over canals teeming with merchant boats, their hulls brimming with rice, lacquerware, and bolts of indigo-dyed cotton. In the bustling streets, the air was thick with the scent of grilled eel and fresh fish sauce, mingling with the sharp bite of ink from print shops lining the avenues. Kabuki theaters beckoned with their vibrant banners, their actors frozen mid-stride in elaborate poses, while courtesans passed behind latticed screens, their painted faces glimpsed only in fleeting glances. It was a world of motion and impermanence, of shifting literal and political tides. The Tokugawa shogunate's grip was firm but fraying at the edges, the weight of isolation pressing against the curiosity of a nation standing at the precipice of change.
This particular impression of Hokusai's masterpiece reveals yet another layer of Edo-period ingenuity. On its reverse, inked guidelines hint at its intended transformation into a folding fan (ogi), an object of both beauty and utility. In 19th-century Japan, woodblock prints were not considered fine art in the Western sense but were ephemeral commodities-mass-produced images meant for daily enjoyment and purchased for about the cost of a cup of soup. Publishers frequently reimagined popular compositions across different formats, from illustrated books to functional objects like uchiwa-e (rigid fans) and ogi. These layout markings serve as a tangible link to the commercial and artistic adaptability of the time-a reminder that even a composition as monumental as The Great Wave was once designed for daily hands to hold, for the breeze to pass through, for life to imprint upon.
And so, the wave curls onward, cresting and crashing in the minds of those who dare to stare into its depths. Hokusai's vision flows across centuries, from inked paper to silk screens, from museum walls to modern consciousness. It moves like a spirit, a dream, a whisper carried on the wind.
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Somewhere, in a quiet fishing village, the tide still rolls in. The sea bellows its endless song. A wave rises, and before it falls, it becomes a legend.
Condition Report*:
A lovely impression of the most iconic Japanese woodblock image. Likely Keyes' state 13 or 14 (of 21). Impression is on a stable sheet; has not been laid on a secondary support. Sheet appears to have been very minimally trimmed to the edges of the image. The condition of the work is consistent with its age. Minor toning to sheet with fading to some inked areas; primarily evident in yellow areas of the boats. Extreme upper left corner and extreme edges present with additional mild toning. Minor curl to the sheet and a center crease that has been pressed flat. A few extremely small foxing marks on the sheet, do not appear to majorly impact image. Several minor marks on verso; verso also presents with four ink lines for an unimplemented uchiwa-e design, visible on recto. Extremely small (1/8") tear along extreme upper edge. A pencil inscription on verso just above the upper edge of the wave, minorly evident from recto. Two small repairs along the extreme upper edge, the largest measuring 1/4 x 1 inch, the smaller of the two measuring about 1/8" in diameter; two additional small repairs to the sheet, one in the left side of cartouche measuring about 1/4" in diameter and one along the upper fan line verso measuring about 1/4" in diameter. A small (1/16"x1/4") area of minor skinning in the sheet just under the tip of the wave. A few minor pin prick holes throughout the sheet, consistent with the age and weight of the sheet. No areas of inpainting observed. Unframed.
*Heritage Auctions strives to provide as much information as possible but encourages in-person inspection by bidders.
Statements regarding the condition of objects are only for general guidance and should not be relied upon as complete statements of fact, and do not constitute a representation,
warranty or assumption of liability by Heritage. Some condition issues may not be noted in the condition report but are apparent in the provided photos which are considered part of the condition report.
Please note that we do not de-frame lots estimated at $1,000 or less and may not be able to provide additional details for lots valued under $500.
Heritage does not guarantee the condition of frames and shall not be liable for any damage/scratches to frames, glass/acrylic coverings, original boxes, display accessories, or art that has slipped in frames.
All lots are sold "AS IS" under the Terms & Conditions of Auction.Auction Info
2025 March 20 Masterpieces: Japanese Prints from the Nelkin Collection Signature® Auction #8191 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
March, 2025
20th
Thursday
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