Hokusai's The Great Wave Off Kanagawa versus Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I

Essay Instructions:

Paper is a 3-5 page compare and contrast research paper in which two works of art or architecture are examined to find the significance of key differences or similarities. The artworks should relate to one of the themes covered in this course, which includes an argument, clear position or original insight extrapolated from your research.
Image Identification Name of Artworks, Artist, Culture, Location
Hokusai, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, from "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji," 1823–29, color woodcut, 10 x 15 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yorka
Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907
Thesis Statement
These two works of art impressed me. Although they were both paintings, they expressed them in different ways. One was painted on a wooden board, and the other was inlaid with a lot of gold and jewelry. Colorful and full of power. High recognition.
Stylistic Analysis
Artwork 1:
The whole picture not only adopts bold and straightforward composition and modeling techniques. The composition of the picture is very wonderful. Simple and generous color, high saturation and high contrast. Accurately expressed the theme of the painting.
Artwork 2:
Gustav Klimt's early painting style inherited the traditions of pre Raphael school in Britain and Impressionism in France, and founded the "separatist school". Strong national style. High color saturation. The work absorbs the artistic elements of ancient Egypt, Greece and the middle ages, combines the plane emphasizing contour lines with the plane of classical mosaic, and creates a unique and infectious painting style.
Cultural Context
Artwork 1:
The painting is extremely bold and advanced in appearance expression and subjective meaning treatment. People at that time could not understand the expression method of distorting and deforming the real scenery. Therefore, from a certain level, his art is advanced and the modern art before modern art. It has attracted the attention of Degas, Manet, Van Gogh, Gauguin and other masters of French late Impressionism, and injected vitality into their artistic creation. It is the most frequently cited ukiyo painting in history. On April 9, 2019, Taro Aso, the finance minister of the Japanese government, officially announced that the paper currency pattern will be changed in the first half of 2024, with this picture on the back of 1000 yen. The beautiful implication of this painting.
Artwork 2:
Gustav Klimt is a famous Austrian expressionist painter and the founder of the Vienna separatist school. His paintings are famous for mosaic paintings，so that the painting and craftsmanship in the works have reached the extreme.. The painting is regarded as "the Mona Lisa of Austria", which was plundered by the Nazis during World War II. This portrait was commissioned by her husband Ferdinand Bloch Bauer, which also emphasizes his social status among the Vienna cultural elite.
Research Sources
“Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave) by Hokusai (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, https://www(dot)khanacademy(dot)org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/japan-art/a/hokusai-under-the-wave-off-kanagawa-the-great-wave.
“Hokusai, Katsushika.” WebMuseum: Hokusai, Katsushika, https://www(dot)ibiblio(dot)org/wm/paint/auth/hokusai/.
Klimt, Gustav. “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907 - Gustav Klimt.” Www(dot)wikiart(dot)org, 1 Jan. 1970, https://Www(dot)wikiart(dot)org/en/gustav-klimt/portrait-of-adele-blochbauer-i-1907-1.
“Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer at Neue Galerie.” Art Installation Design, 27 Dec. 2019, https://www(dot)artinstallationdesign(dot)com/portfolio/klimts-portrait-of-adele-bloch-bauer-at-neue-galerie/.
This is the outline I wrote, but my professor said my outline was not clear enough.
Professor said“ The thesis needs to be more specific, narrow in focus in regards to the thematic connection. What do they two artworks have in common? What stylistic characteristics do they have similar?
The more narrow and focused your thesis is, the easier it will be to prove it in your essay.”
I will send you the requirements related to this composition. Please contact me if you have any questions.

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Comparing and Contrasting
Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist famous for his ukiyo-e style of painting and printmaking, predominant during the Edo period. He produced his seminal Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fiji series, which is globally regarded as a landmark in Japanese woodblock printmaking, was produced at the peak of his artistic career. The landscape paintings were produced between 1760 and 1849 where the most famous print of the ukiyo-e series, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, became an international success. Each of the thirty-six designs depicts the sacred Mount Fiji, either visibly or hidden in the background, through different seasons, settings, and weather conditions. Mount Fuji stands steadfast against the diverse scenes from everyday life in 19th century Japan.
On the other hand, Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter famous for his paintings and sketches that featured the female body as the primary subject. Adele Block-Bauer I is one such painting commissioned by Ferdinand Block-Bauer, a wealthy industrialist, as an anniversary present to his wife. Adele Block-Bauer is painted seated and dressed in an opulent dress set against a jewel-toned background of abstract decorative blocks. There is an emphasis on ornamentation (especially Adele's necklace), and the overall image of the painting is heavily influenced by the use of gold leaf and Byzantine mosaic symbols. The dress is decorated with geometric forms of silver, black, and blue to contrast against the flow of gold. Both paintings are entirely dissimilar in theme and style. Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fiji series uses color print to illustrate the revered Mout Fiji against the backdrop of everyday life in 19th century Japan. At the same time, Klimt's Adele Block-Bauer I is a sensual embodiment of femininity, as demonstrated by the lavish use of gold and Byzantine mosaics.
Hokusai employed the ukiyo-e style and animated woodblock painting genre popular in 17th century Japan. Mount Fuji, Japan's symbol of national identity, is the prime target in all thirty-six woodblock prints and is shown in a wide variety of settings. The imposing mountain is shown from every possible viewpoint: the lake, the river, the forest, the sea, the beach, the field, and the plain. Hokusai uses typical Japanese asymmetrical composition to represent everyday scenes, sometimes dramatic effects. For instance, his widely acclaimed The Great Wave off Kanagawa shows a towering wave just about to crash over three fishing boats against the background of Mount Fiji. The mountain is seen far away and nearly indistinguishable from the boisterous waves, which are similar in shape and color. Hokusai's dynamic representation of the big waves and the unusually set horizon all serve to heighten the drama: the crest of the wave has claws to illustrate the violence and devouring movement of the wave, thereby awakening an understanding of the power of the natural phenomenon as well as the fright of the oarsmen in their fragile boats. The desolate and serene snow-capped Mount Fiji contrasts the raging sea both in serenity and stature.[Kiyonaga, Nobumasa, and Ernst Wagner. “Katsushika Hokusai, ‘Nami-Ura’ (the Backside of the Wave).&r...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Hokusai's The Great Wave Off Kanagawa versus Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I

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