[lioeters]

That "Big Wave" variation with birds flying over the waves is strikingly beautiful. So dynamic and raw compared to the famous one. And how poetic the shapes of birds rhyme with the shape of waves. I'm gonna have to set aside some time to appreciate Hokusai's works again. Lovely.

[srean]

The wave is almost like a live character in this one. Like an angry god caught in a moment of fury.

[sph]

The wave/birds juxtaposition is very Escher-like

[srean]

Indeed.

Check this out

https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1899550/1/11/

I don't know whether Escher was familiar with Hokusai's work but they shared a common interest in tilings and tesselations. Damned if I can find those Hokusai sketches on the web now.

[chickensong]

This is Shingata komon-cho 新形小紋帳 (Book of New Patterns) from 1824, held by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1973-0723-...

[lioeters]

Wow that is kind of mind-blowing. Looking through other pages, Hokusai is showing each "rule" (法) and its application (tessalation) that produces the pattern. It makes me wonder about what kind of cultural exchange was happening between Japan and Europe at the time.

[srean]

Escher would be generations younger. However, I am curious about whether Hokusai encountered any Islamic art. Tesselations and symmetry play a big role in that one. I submitted ed this link as a separate HN post.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47902993