Whaling off the Coast of the Goto Islands (Goto kujira tsuki), from the series "One Thousand Pictures of the Ocean (Chie no umi)"

Whaling off the Coast of the Goto Islands (Goto kujira tsuki), from the series "One Thousand Pictures of the Ocean (Chie no umi)"

Katsushika Hokusai

Details

Dimensions
19 × 25.7 cm (7 1/2 × 10 1/8 in.)
Origin
Japan
Department
Arts of Asia
Holding institution
Art Institute of Chicago
Image provider
art-institute-chicago
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Art Genome Taxonomy

10 tags

Subject Matter

  • Nautical Both · 99%

    The title identifies a whaling scene off the Goto Islands, and the image visibly shows a whale surrounded by boats on open water.

  • Animals Both · 99%

    A large whale is the principal depicted animal, consistent with the catalog title referring to whaling.

  • The image is dominated by open water and a coastal landform with vegetation and buildings; the title locates the scene off the Goto Islands.

Visual Qualities

  • Patterns Visual · 96%

    Repeated boats, upright flags, stippled water marks, shoreline textures, foliage, and roof lines produce a strongly patterned surface.

  • Asymmetrical Visual · 94%

    The large whale and expanses of water occupy the left and center, while the shoreline and structures concentrate on the right, creating an uneven distribution of visual weight.

  • Dense Composition Visual · 94%

    Numerous boats, the whale, flags, shoreline, vegetation, and structures are compressed into the limited rectangular picture field, producing a busy layered composition.

Medium and Techniques

  • Prints Metadata · 99%

    The catalog classifies the work as a print and specifies a color woodblock print in chuban format.

  • Woodcut and Linocut Metadata · 98%

    The catalog explicitly identifies the medium as a color woodblock print.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The catalog dates the print to approximately 1831–33.

Geographic Regions

  • Japanese Art Metadata · 99%

    The catalog identifies Katsushika Hokusai as Japanese, gives Japan as the place of origin, and classifies the work within Japanese culture or style.

Source & rights

Katsushika Hokusai. Whaling off the Coast of the Goto Islands (Goto kujira tsuki), from the series "One Thousand Pictures of the Ocean (Chie no umi)". The Art Institute of Chicago.