Better Know the Great Wave

Better Know the Great Wave

I Listen to the music. What emotions and feelings does it create in you? If you had to create a cover for the album or a disc with this music what image would you choose for it, what colours would you use and why?

II Take 3 minutes to write down as many words and phrases that you associate with the word ‘ocean’ as you can. Compare your word and phrases with other students’ lists. Which words are similar? Why do you associate those very words with oceans? Take 3 minutes and draw any lines/shapes/figures or images you associate with the word ‘ocean’. Compare your drawings with other students’ images. What similarities and differences can you find?

III Look at the image below. What types of lines does the artist use? What colours can you see and what effect doe they create? What mood and emotions does the image create? Do you know the title of this work of art? If no, what tile would you give?

 IV Study the active vocabulary and focus on Ukrainian equivalents of English words.

giant величезний

distinctive характерний

curly зігнутий

claw пазур

arch згинати дугою

pounce нападати

invoke викликати

natural disaster стихійне лихо

insignificant незначний

omnipresent всюдисущий

good grief! Боже мій!

enthral чарувати

subject сюжет

woodblock print ксилографія (гравюра на дереві)

sacred священний

follower послідовник

depict зобразити

nestle ховатися

fisherman рибалка

row веслувати

escape рятуватися

prominent визначний

distillation квінтесенція

emphasis акцент

depiction зображення

hedonistic гедоністичний, що полюбляє насолоду

floating мінливий

ephemerality ефемерність

fad примха

stuffy консервативний

middle class середній клас

bowl  миска

noodle soup суп з локшиною

fascinated зачарований

rough бурхливий

isolationist policy ізоляціоністська політика

Tokugawa shogunate Сьоґунат Едо (всеяпонський самурайський уряд автитарного типу)

in power при владі

borrow запозичувати

tentacle-like  щупальцеподібний

projection проекція

creep заповзати

nevertheless  тим не менш

engraving гравюра

smuggle провозити контрабандою

Dutch голландський

trader торговець

betray  виявляти

linear perspective лінійна перспектива

synthetic pigment синтетичний пігмент

emerging market ринок що розвивається

domestic місцевий

pilgrimage паломництво

rage шаленство

vivid яскравий

flatten сплющувати

hypothesize робити припущення

Japonisme японізм (напрям у мистецтві, що склався під впливом захоплення європейських художників японською ксилографією)

craze захоплення

propel стимулювати

international renown міжнародне визнання

rogue wave хвиля-вбивця (блукаюча хвиля, яка раптово виникає в океані)

deadly смертельний

obvious очевидний

juxtaposition зіставлення

distinctly чітко

remove видаляти

pending disaster неминуче лихо

man-made штучний

heighten підсилювати

tension напруженість

narrative розповідь

draw on залучати

grief горе

resilience стійкість

empirical evidence емпіричні докази

formidable грізний

opponent супротивник

humankind людство

imbalance дисбаланс

cliffhanger кульмінація

register помічати

detached незалежний

mastery майстерність

marvel дивуватися

sequester усамітнювати

witness бути свідком

perpetrate здійснювати

fodder підживлення

duplication копіювання

still фотознімок

screen capture скріншот

unstable нестабільний

unpredictable непередбачуваний

environment середовище

vastness простір

ultimate максимальний

succinctly лаконічно

  

V Vocabulary focus. Study the words and  word combinations, check your understanding using flashcards, practise their translation, spelling. Check your knowledge in the test. Play matching vocabulary game (match words to their translations to make cards disappear)  and save the planet from asteroids by typing in correct translation of the words.

VI Watch the video and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

imagine; number;  fascinated; emoji; world; projections; artistic; noodle soup; forms; perspectives; work; distance; game; world; middle class; occasions; wave; born; title; natural disaster; jeans; image; borrowing; fashionable; home; artists; lifeless; name; rough seas;  colour; dominates; sacred; water; composition; means; fishermen; wish; under; question; projects; shaped; projects; translates; lives; city life; pass; in power; Japanese; escape; accepted; fish; prominent; claws; continues; giant; good grief; woodblock prints; fashions; created; period; art; part; Chinese

  

 You’ve seen this image before: a 1)________ wave, its distinctive curly 2)________ arched and ready to pounce. It’s invoked when 3)_____   _____ strikes, but also when it’s time to sell beer, 4)________, and sweatshirts. It inspired Claude Debussy’s orchestral work ‘la Mer’ as well as a non-insignificant 5)________ of tattoos. It’s an omnipresent 6)________ and one used towards a variety of ends. 7)________   ______, it’s even an 8)________! What is it about this image that 9)________ to enthral us? Let’s better know The Great Wave.

First stuff, the 10)________ is not The Great Wave and its subject isn’t really a 11)________. It’s one of a series of 12)____   ____ called 36 views of Mount Fuji made by the 13)________ print maker Katsushika Hokusai between 1830 and 1831. Long considered 14)________ by followers of Shintoism and Buddhism among others, Mount Fuji is depicted from a variety of 15)________. And our 16)________ in 17)________ is just one of them. Its actual title 18)________ to Under the Wave off Kanagawa because 19)________ is where Mount Fuji is nestled far in the 20)________. Also under the wave our 21)________ just trying to get 22)________ after delivering 23)________ to the city of Edo, rowing for their 24)________ to 25)________ the wave. But the Great Wave, of course, 26)________ the 27)________ and has become an 28)________ title.

29)________ near modern-day Tokyo in 1760 Hokusai was a 30)________ Ukiyo-e artist, the 31)________ for the mass-produced woodblock prints of the Edo 32)________ notable for their distillation of 33)________, emphasis on line and pure 34)________, and depictions of hedonistic 35)_______    _____. Ukiyo-e 36)________ ‘floating 37)________’ referring to the ephemerality of the fads and 38)________ of the time. This was not stuffy high 39)________ but images available to a growing 40)_________  ______ for about the cost of a bowl of 41)________  ________.  Hokusai was 42)________ by the movement of 43)________ exploring the subjects on many 44)________ throughout his career, and not just 45)________   _______ but a few calmer moments. In the 1830s, when the Great Wave was 46)________, Japan was largely shut off to wider 47)________ due to the isolationist policies of the Tokugawa shogunate then 48)________  _______. We can see Hokusai 49)________ from Japanese Rinpa school 50)________ like Ogata Kōrin especially in the tentacle-like 51)________ from his waves.

VII Watch the video again and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

Western penmanship/realism/reality was creeping into Japanese/Chinese/Sudanese art nevertheless, largely due to Japanese/Chinese/European engravings smuggled in by Dutch traders/invader/trading. The Great Wave betrays a clear East/Western/North influence: the use of linear/clearly/lined perspective, a low erasing/horizon/erased line, and the appearance of Prussian clue/true/blue, a synthetic pigment/pigmentation/attainment then very new to Japan, hailing from, that’s right, Prussia. Thousands of copied/troops/copies of the Mount Fuji prints were released within Japan mostly bought as souvenirs/veneers/winners by an emerging blanket/market/marketable of domestic travelled/touristy/tourists and those making pilgrimages to the mountains/range/mount. But in the 1850s after Hokusai’s dead/death/wealth trade began to open up and his worked/working/work was shown at the 1867 International Exposition/Exhibit/Exhibited in Paris. Japanese culture quickly became all the cage/sage/rage in Europe. And Ukiyo-e prints were admired/admiring/admirably and connected/connection/collected by many including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, and a number of artists/art/painted who were heavily influence/fluid/influenced by their depictions of city/giddy/royalty life, livid/vivid/living colours, and what for them was a flattening of space/pace/race. In 1896 a tsunami hit northern/east/westernized Japan, and news of its depiction/detention/destruction spread worldwide. It’s been hypothesized that this event/eventually/tent, coupled with the Japonisme craze helped propel the Great Wave to nationally/international/intentional renown, although the print/pint/printed does not depict a tsunami/tsunamis/enemy. In 2009 researched/searched/researchers identified it as a 32-39 foot tall rogue wave/waving/waver or what they call a “plunging breaker”. It would certainly still be deadly/death/died, however, and that’s where we get/regret/forget to the real and obvious drama/dramatist/dramatically of the picture. Naturally/ unnatural/nature is large and we are small/large/biggest. This juxtaposition/opposition/positioned can be seen in the art of many vultures/cultured/cultures at many different times/mimes/grimes. But we have, perhaps, never seen it played out more clarity/clearly/cleared and more distinction/distinctly/succinctly than here. Traditional Japanese landscapes/seascape/escapes of the time put the fewer/view/viewer at a remove from the action/attentive/narration, but here we are right up against this pending plaster/disaster/casting. Hokusai’s contrast of near/linear/clearly and far, and man-made and natural/unnatural/supernatural heighten the intended/tension/attentive and place us inside/outside/besides the narrative.

VIII Watch the video and fill in the gaps in the text.

When Debussy 1)______ la Mer in 1903 he drew on his own childhood 2)______ of surviving a terrifying 3)______ on a fishing boat as well as 4)______ by J.M.W. Turner and Hokusai’s print which he selected for the score’s 5)______. The image later 6)______ a 1948 Pearl Buck novel that tells the story of a young 7)______ from a Japanese fishing village who loses his 8)______ to a tidal wave, a post-World War II story of grief but also 9)______. It’s an 10)______ mobilized when disaster strikes as it was after the devastating 2011 earthquake and 11)______ off the eastern coast of 12)______. Scientists and empirical evidence tell us that 13)______ average temperatures are 14)______, with extreme 15)______ events becoming more frequent and more intense. Well the 16)______ has always been a formidable opponent for 17)______, and The Great Wave is a useful 18)______ for that relationship. Its 19)______ is likely to become even 20)______. But of course the image can be 21)______ in many different and less specific ways symbolizing a great many imbalance of 22)______. We don’t know if our 23)______ are going to make it out of there alive. It’s a cliffhanger. Even if you don’t register the 23)______ or Mount Fuji and see the 24)______ alone in its detached emoji-state, it still holds us in and tells us quite forcefully that big things are happening or are about to 25)______. Unlike the GoPro views of surfers tunnelling through barrel waves, The Great Wave story is not one of mastery over 26)______. It’s notably called ‘The Great Wave’ and not ‘The Heroic Fishermen Who Survived the Rogue Wave’. Other 27)______ have capitalized on the power and theatricality of waves of subject matter but really in such a way that we marvel at the 28)______ of the artist instead of the spectacular 29)______ of the wave itself. What’s more, this 30)______ was meant to be reproduced, not sequestered in one 31)______ where only a few have the privilege of witnessing it. Well, there are certainly numerous crimes against this image perpetrated across the 32)______. The crisp graphic quality of the original woodblock prints make it friendlier fodder for duplication and 33)______. When most of us experience the 34)______ this is thankfully not how we usually see it. It’s an incredibly improbable 35)______. It’s a film still or screen capture in the most 36)______, unstable, and unpredictable of environments. But it has nevertheless become our 37)______ standard for the 38)______, a way to isolate some fraction of the vastness that covers 70% of planet Earth. It’s an icon, it’s the ultimate, most wave-like of all waves. But it’s also an entire 39)______ told simply, and succinctly, and 40)______. Whatever your Great Wave is made of, you are undoubtedly 41)______ it. And always will be, until you’re not.

IX Watch all the parts of the video and answer the questions.

1 What can you see when you look at the image The Great Wave?

2 What other works of art and literature were inspired by The Great Wave?

3 What is the original title of The Great Wave? Why do people call the image differently?

4 Who was the author of The Great Wave? What type of artwork is The Great Wave (a sculpture, a watercolour painting, etc.)?

5 What do you know about the author of The Great Wave? What was special about his style?

6 What trends in Japanese art influenced the creation of The Great Wave?

7 What elements and principles of Western art can be seen in The Great Wave? How did Japanese artists discover those Western art elements?

8  How did French artists discover The Great Wave? Which Western artists were influenced by this work of art and Japanese art at that time?

9 Why is The Great Wave often associated with tsunamis? Does the image actually show a tsunami wave?

10 What is the place and role of the fishermen in The Great Wave?

11 How does The Great Wave illustrate the relations between men and nature?

X OVER TO YOU. The Great Wave can be seen as the most iconic image of a wave. Find a work of art (a painting, a woodcut print, a sculpture, a drawing, etc.) that in your opinion is the most iconic image of a sea or an ocean. Describe the work of art and explain why it is so iconic for you.