A Viewing of Hokusai’s Enoshima in Sagami Province
The work of art that I will be discussing in the paper is Enoshima in Sagami Province 相州江の島. It is a woodblock print made by Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849). It was made between 1829-1833, but the exact date is unknown. It is part of a series of prints that Hokusai did called the thirty-six views of Mount Fuji. This specific print is number twenty seven from the series - one of the most well known of Hokusai’s prints is the first in this series The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Enoshima in Sagami Province is roughly 25cm x 37cm printed as a polychrome woodblock print, meaning that the print itself is colored ink on paper. The work belongs to the Davidson Art center Collection and was exhibited as…show more content… (There is a sketch of the print attached to this paper to help supplement the description.) The print is, as mentioned before roughly 25x37cm with a publisher seal in the bottom right corner reading 永寿堂 (Eijudou) and a vertical title box in the top right corner reading 冨嶽三十六景 相州江の嶌 (thirty-six views of Mount Fuji Sagami Province Enoshima). Next to the title box is Hokusai’s signature. At the upper edge of the print is a strip of Prussian blue. This strip is uniform less than 2cm from the top of the print, but tapers out into a sky made with only the color of the paper. The sky and the sea split the print in nearly two equal horizontal halves, if not for the island of Enoshima, which covers the middle and middle left area. In the middle right, Mount Fuji stands. Far away from the perspective of this print, it is small in the background with its base covered by clouds and greenery. In front of Mount Fuji is a boat with its sail down on a light blue sea. The sea stretches around the island of Enoshima, which is situated to the left of Mount Fuji. In front of the island is a path of land revealed by a low tide. The water near the path is a very light blue mixed with white, unlike the sea closer to the horizon which is a light Prussian blue. The bottom edge of the print is an area of clouds, which seem to mirror the Prussian blue at the top. The clouds climb up the two sides of the…show more content… Hokusai’s use of space is especially worth discussing. Firstly, there is the wide-open sky that encompasses the print. The sky is almost a mirror of the sea on the opposite side. With the vast empty sky, out eyes are drawn the island on the left. Here, in contrast to the other parts, information is crammed in. Buildings are packed so tightly that they overlap each other. Yet, even still, the houses lead into a vast patch of greenery from which buildings emerge. By packing the island full of information, it gives allows for the viewer to appreciate the vastness of both the sea and the sky. This mass of information also creates a balance between Mount Fuji on the right. Even though Mount Fuji stands alone, because of its singularity it feels as if it can balance out the island. The land also creates a unity between itself and the sea. Like how the sea seems to wrap around the island, the land of the low tide path also wraps around the sea. Having almost similar proportions, it does not feel as though one is overwhelming the other, thus creating a serene and balanced
