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Notes:
Japanese art was an important influence on Brett Whiteley, particularly the fluidity of Japanese calligraphy and the economy of line found in ukiyo-e woodblock prints. These influences became especially apparent in his drawings and prints, where Whiteley frequently reduced landscape and natural forms to expressive, gestural lines.
The wave became an important motif in Whiteley’s work during the 1970s. His treatment of the subject has been associated specifically with Katsushika Hokusai and his celebrated The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1830–32. Like Hokusai, Whiteley transforms the movement of water into a rhythmic arrangement of curling lines and repeated forms.
Waves, 1977, is particularly interesting in this context. Executed as a linocut, it employs a relief-printing process related to the woodblock tradition of Japanese ukiyo-e. Working solely in black and white, Whiteley strips the subject back to line, movement and form, creating a distinctly personal interpretation of the wave while acknowledging an artistic tradition that had fascinated Western artists for generations.
