It also, I think, shows a peculiarly Japanese ambivalence. As a viewer, you have no place to stand, no footing. You too must be in a boat, under the Great Wave, and in danger. The dangerous sea over which European things and ideas travelled has, however, been drawn with a profound ambiguity. Christine Guth has studied Hokusai’s work, especially The Great Wave, in depth: It was produced at a time when the Japanese were beginning to become concerned about foreign incursions into the islands. So this great wave seemed, on the one hand, to be a symbolic barrier for the protection of Japan, but at the same time it had also suggested the potential for the Japanese to travel abroad, for ideas to move, for things to move back and forth. So I think it was closely tied to the beginnings of the opening of Japan. –A History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil MacGregor How does the quotation from Christine Guth support MacGregor’s point about The Great Wave? It links the artwork directly to its Japanese artists. It provides the dates the different pieces of artwork were created. It interprets the wave as a way of isolating Japan and as a means of travel and trade. It presents MacGregor’s viewpoint that the artwork is connected to the opening of Japan.
