Having Your Art in the Right Place

There's a point to all this, as lightly fun and frivolous as it might appear.  Okay, in fairness, yes, it's still lightly fun and frivolous, but there really is a point.

I'm a donor to the great Art Institute of Chicago, even though I no longer live in the city.  But I do go every time I visit Chicago, and I just love supporting excellence. 

It's really a superb collection, most notably its renowned French Impressionism works from Picasso, Renoir, Manet, Pissaro, Cézanne, Degas and more, most notably (for me) my favorite Monet and his "Sandvika, Norway")

Not to mention masterpieces by Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gough, Toulouse-Lautrec, Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keefe, Rodin sculpture and iconic works like Edward Hoppers' "Nighthawks," Grant Wood's "American Gothic" and Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" (the inspiration of Stephen Sondheim's musical, Sunday in the Park with George.

Not to mention Marc Chagall's renowned, expansive "America Windows" mosaic.  And of course so much more.  And what stands out as well is that it's all displayed impeccably, with thoughtful and involving presentations.

I mentioned all this as background, because (as we near getting to the point of it all) I'm on their mailing list and receive the member publications and updates.

As a result of that, a couple days ago I got a mailing about things the museum has in store for the coming months, as well as a brief feature about another of their famous works -- "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa".  Most people won't know the name, but many would recognize it.  The magnificent piece is a woodblock print by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, which he made in 1831 during the Edo period of Japanese history.

As it happens, Hokusai's work has grown in its fame in recent years, and even become part of popular culture, a point that the Art Institute of Chicago was very happy to point out in the mailing.  They wrote --

"The iconic print has been turned into an emoji, appears on a Japanese bank note this year, and has inspired countless artists across decades. Join us in the Ando Gallery through January 6 to see why the piece resonates nearly 200 years after its making." 

And it's at that point why I had to laugh.  Because when you see the piece, you will know instantly why it resonates today, 200 years after it was made.  I'm sure there are many reasons, but one most-especially leaps out.  I don't know if the archivist writing the mailer is so joyfully focused with tunnel vision on the world of art that the person is oblivious to politics -- or if the museum was so pleased that its work has become a part of popular culture as an emoji, but didn't want to be too up front about politics.  And so left that explanation out.

But...well, this is Hokusai's "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" --

So...okay, you take a wild guess why the piece "resonates nearly 200 years after its making."  What possibly about it could have an appeal to some in the world of politics?  Why in the world would someone -- oh, perhaps a Democrat -- turn it into an emoji??  You get three guesses.  And the last two don't count.
​
Not just a wave, but a blue wave.  And a majestic one at that.

Politics aside, that's pretty great piece of art.  With Mount Fuji in the background.

And happily on the right side of all that is noble and good.

​Long may it wave...