Original work by Katsushika Hokusai, 1831
Recreated in 2020
Woods used: Red Oak, Poplar, Yellowheart, Purpleheart
Dimensions: 10 ft × 6 ft
Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa is one of the most recognizable works of art in the world. It was also the first woodblock print I ever recreated, although my first attempt was much smaller than the version you see here.
As with all woodblock prints, Hokusai’s original was created by carving an image into woodblocks and then printing from those blocks. My process is essentially the inverse. Hokusai went from woodblock to print; I work from print to woodblocks.
That inversion extends beyond the process itself. Hokusai’s original prints were relatively small, designed for mass production, and made using traditional hand tools. My version is a large-scale, limited-production piece made with modern power tools. The materials and methods are very different, but the experience of carving and assembling these images is incredibly rewarding.
At 10 ft by 6 ft, the size of the artwork helps convey the sheer power of the wave while emphasizing how small and vulnerable the sailors are in the face of nature. I also chose specific woods to draw attention to the boats and the people aboard them. The yellowheart, poplar, and purpleheart create striking contrasts with the darker tones of the piece, helping bring the sailors and their struggle into focus.
Three other details stand out to me.
First, I used poplar for both the sky and the green portions of the boats. This might seem surprising, but some poplar boards absorb minerals from the soil as they grow, causing the wood to develop a natural green hue. This allowed me to use the same species of wood to represent two completely different colors.
Second, the poplar used for the sky is continuous from section to section. If you look closely, you can see that the top board is actually one solid piece running from one end of the artwork to the other.
Finally, I’m particularly proud of how I created the two signatures. For Hokusai’s signature in the upper left, I planed some very thin purpleheart and carved the characters directly into the wood. My signature in the lower left was made in a completely different way: I carved my signature into a small woodblock, dipped it in paint, and used it to print the signature onto the finished piece.
So, in a small twist, my recreation of a woodblock print contains one tiny section that is actually printed from a woodblock.