For This Assignment, Select A 2D Print From Your Home, Workp ✓ Solved

For this assignment, select a 2D print from your home, workp

For this assignment, select a 2D print from your home, workplace, or an online art museum gallery that interests you. Take a photograph of the 2D print or save an image of the print, and include it in the Unit IV Assignment Worksheet. In the worksheet, answer questions about the print to identify the design principles used and to describe its visual and formal characteristics. Write in complete sentences and use proper grammar.

Paper For Above Instructions

Selected Work and Image

For this assignment I selected Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa (c. 1830–33) as the 2D print from an online museum collection. The image file of the print has been saved and included in the Unit IV Assignment Worksheet as required. The Great Wave is an ideal object for formal analysis because it demonstrates a clear use of line, shape, color, pattern, and strong design principles such as contrast, rhythm, balance, and emphasis (Gombrich, 2006; British Museum, n.d.).

Formal Description

Visually, the composition is dominated by the large, cresting wave at the left and center of the image, which curves over smaller waves and a boat carrying figures. Mount Fuji appears small and distant on the right horizon, creating scale contrast (Arnheim, 1974). The print uses a limited palette—primarily Prussian blue, white, and muted beige—so color contrast is controlled but powerful. The lines are crisp and contour-focused, typical of ukiyo-e woodblock technique, producing clear shapes and repeated curvilinear forms (Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d.). The texture is implied rather than physically present: the woodblock’s grain and printed ink produce subtle surface variations that the eye reads as water spray and wave foam (The J. Paul Getty Museum, n.d.).

Elements of Art Present

Line: Hokusai uses sweeping, rhythmic lines to define the wave’s crest and foam. The repeated hooked and claw-like motifs create movement and direct the viewer’s gaze across the image (Lauer & Pentak, 2012).

Shape and Form: The print is largely two-dimensional in literal sense, but the overlapping of forms (wave over boat; boat over distant sea) creates an illusion of depth and form (Elkins, 2007).

Color: The dominant Prussian blue provides both unity and dramatic contrast with white foam. The limited palette reinforces visual cohesion and mood (Tate, n.d.).

Space and Scale: Small Mount Fuji and the comparatively tiny boats emphasize the monumental scale of the wave, affecting narrative interpretation and emotional response (Smarthistory, n.d.).

Design Principles Identified

Balance: The image exhibits asymmetrical balance. While the large wave occupies the left and center, the right side is visually balanced by the steady horizontal plane, the small Mount Fuji, and open negative space. This asymmetry creates tension without visual instability (Lauer & Pentak, 2012).

Contrast: High tonal contrast between the dark blue sea and the white foam heightens dramatic effect and helps separate foreground and background (Arnheim, 1974).

Emphasis and Focal Point: Emphasis is achieved through scale, contrast, and line. The viewer’s eye is drawn immediately to the crest of the wave because of its size, bright white foam, and converging lines directing attention (Gombrich, 2006).

Rhythm and Movement: Repetition of curving forms and the directional flow of lines produce a visual rhythm that simulates motion—both of water and of the viewer’s gaze moving across the composition (Smarthistory, n.d.).

Unity and Variety: The print achieves unity through a consistent palette and repeating forms, while variety comes from the contrast of scale (wave vs. Mount Fuji), the combination of curvilinear wave shapes with angular boat lines, and subtle color gradations (Tate, n.d.).

Interpretation and Contextual Notes

Hokusai’s print can be read both as a depiction of a natural event and as a symbolic reflection on human vulnerability against nature. The tiny boats and their crews emphasize human frailty and the forces of the sea, while Mount Fuji’s calm presence can suggest permanence and spiritual stability (British Museum, n.d.; Smarthistory, n.d.). The design principles reinforce this narrative: emphasis and contrast dramatize danger, while balance and unity maintain compositional coherence that allows meaning to emerge (Arnheim, 1974; Lauer & Pentak, 2012).

How This Analysis Answers the Worksheet Questions

1. Identification of design principles: The print demonstrates asymmetrical balance, contrast, emphasis, rhythm, unity, and proportion (Lauer & Pentak, 2012; Tate, n.d.).

2. Description of characteristics: The print’s characteristics include dominant curvilinear lines, limited yet saturated color palette (Prussian blue and white), clear contour shapes, implied texture in water spray, and layered spatial recession (The J. Paul Getty Museum, n.d.; Elkins, 2007).

3. Visual impact and function: The composition’s strong focal point and motion create emotional intensity while the unity and careful balance make the image visually satisfying and memorable—this supports the print’s function as both aesthetic object and cultural narrative (Gombrich, 2006; Smarthistory, n.d.).

Conclusion

By selecting Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa and applying formal analysis, the primary design principles and visual characteristics become clear. The work’s dramatic use of line, scale, and contrast produces a powerful focal point and implied motion, while unity and balance hold the composition together. This structured observation and interpretation respond directly to the worksheet’s prompts and provide a formal vocabulary for describing design choices and their effects (Lauer & Pentak, 2012; Arnheim, 1974).

References

  • Lauer, D. A., & Pentak, S. (2012). Design Basics. Cengage Learning.
  • Arnheim, R. (1974). Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye. University of California Press.
  • Gombrich, E. H. (2006). The Story of Art. Phaidon Press.
  • Smarthistory. (n.d.). Formal Analysis. Smarthistory.org. Retrieved from https://smarthistory.org
  • British Museum. (n.d.). The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai. Retrieved from https://www.britishmuseum.org
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum. (n.d.). Understanding Prints and Drawings. Retrieved from https://www.getty.edu
  • Tate. (n.d.). Principles of design: balance, contrast, emphasis, movement. Retrieved from https://www.tate.org.uk
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art. (n.d.). Prints and Drawings: Guide to the Medium. Retrieved from https://www.metmuseum.org
  • MoMA. (n.d.). About Prints and Multiples. Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org
  • Elkins, J. (2007). Visual Studies: A Skeptical Introduction. Routledge.

Related Assignments