Art & Culture · 2

When 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' was originally published in the early 1830s, in what medium was it produced and sold?

Answer

Mass-produced woodblock prints

Hokusai's 'Great Wave' was produced as a woodblock print (ukiyo-e), a technique that allowed hundreds of copies to be made and sold cheaply to the general public, making it everyday commercial art rather than a prized collector's piece at the time of its creation.

💡 Did you know?

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Japan's most iconic print, was considered cheap mass-market trash when created—now worth millions.

Other options people guess

  • Oil paintings on canvas
  • Hand-painted silk scrolls
  • Copper engraving prints

Topics

  • hokusai
  • japanese-art
  • woodblock-print
  • great-wave
  • 19th-century

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