Two views of the Sea
A painting by Charles Napier Hemy at The Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne and one of the most famous Japanese woodcut prints, The Wave by Katsushika Hokusai are compared in this lesson plan
Key Stage:
KS3 Art & Design National Curriculum: Secondary Art & Design Pupils should be taught: To analyse their own work, and that of others. About the history of art, design and architecture, including periods, styles and major movements from ancient times up to the present dayOverview:
Suggested Classroom Activity
Show the group the 'Two views of the Sea' film.
Suggested Classroom Activity cont
Now download the two high res jpeg images. The task is to reflect on what the group feel to be the most important differences and similarities between the works and to evaluate how much the differences are due to the mediums used by the artist. They should present their findings in artist’s sketchbook format. Download hokusai.jpg
Development Activity:
Either as an individual homework, or group work in class, pupils make their own selection of two contrasting artworks on the same theme and script and present a three minute powerpoint about the pieces.
Learning Objectives:
Pupils will reinforce and refine analytical techniques and knowledge about two fine art processes.
Research, Notes and Links:
The other resources on the Through Sea and Air page pages on Culture Street.
Lesson requires pupils to have sketchbooks.
Download this lesson plan
The wikipedia entry on Hemy is rather slight - there is more information in his obituary in the American art Journal here - scroll down to near the foot of the page. In the original journal Hemy's obituary takes up more column inches than that of Degas, who died three days before him.
There is good biography of the artist by his grand daughter: ‘Master of the Sea’ Margaret Powell ISBN-10: 0906720370 ISBN-13: 978-0906720370
ArtUK is a useful source of images of Hemy's work..
Hokusai is of course far more widely known. The BBC programme on the Great Wave - episode three in the Private life of a Masterpiece series is an enthralling and highly detailed study. It is available on YouTube if that is accessible through your school's firewall.