Trip to the Palmer

In my trip to the Palmer Museum of Art, I found one section to be particularly interesting. That was the series, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, my favorite, and the one I’m writing this rhetorical analysis on is, Mt. Fuji from under Mannen Bridge in Fukagawa, the artist who painted this particular painting was named, Katsushika Hokusai.  He made this painting in 1830, using a woodblock print and oban.

The painting shows a river flowing into a larger body of water with four fishing boats headed underneath Mannen Bridge embarking on their fishing expedition. On the bottom right side of the painting, a man is sitting on the rocks fishing as well. The bridge is tan with plants and bushes on top of it. The sky behind the bridge is light blue with a layer of clouds on the right. In the background, behind the lake, you can see the snowcapped Mount Fuji behind fields of green. 

From this painting, it is fairly easy to tell that it took place very long ago, through the lack of motors on the boats, to the simplicity of the fishing rod the man is using, to the simple structure of Mannen Bridge. This painting makes a social statement that one may not pickup through one glimpse, and that is the unequal distribution of wealth shown. As this large, and well-maintained boat heads to sea, a small, most likely subsistence fisherman is left behind in its wake. The artist may be trying to show a common occurrence in which while one mans struggling to put food on the table, he who owns the boat is bathing in the fish the lone fishermen is trying to survive on.

This piece may not portray its message very bluntly, but the message I receive from this is very close to home, and I’m sure it is for a lot of people as well. Being from the city, I see this everyday, walking by homeless men I see the modern version of this very scene. This connects to my values in the way that if I ever found myself in a situation similar to what this lone fisherman was in I would appreciate help of any kind, that’s why I try to do for others as I hope they would do for me.

Hokusai had an obsession with Mt. Fuji, but the Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji were also in a way a tourist attraction. As domestic travel became more popular in the area, Hokusai wanted to show how beautiful the Edo, now Tokyo, area was. He wanted to show possible travellers what made his home so special to him, hopefully luring them in. His signature in the top left corner shows his pride in his work, and that he approves of this piece.