Years ago we went to the Barnes Foundation in Pal's neck of the woods and bought a small reproduction of one of Van Gogh's Postman series that we saw while we were there. Ornate frame, fake brush strokes, the works.

The image is not as ubiquitous as The Wave but still recognizable. I have the "painting" propped up on the desk where I sort the mail. The print is an inside joke for my family and a reminder of a lovely trip.

For many reasons, I wouldn't hang our Postman in a prominent place in my house. For us, it works great on the desk. I get the same feeling about The Wave. I think it has a place in your house but I don't think it works above your mantle.

I have taken three students to four different colleges countless times in wildly different regions of the country. We did not purchase posters for the walls of their rooms.

I have a mousepad which my bank kindly provided, a misguided attempt at advertising as no one else sees it.

I have friends who may or may not have tattoos, as they are not visible in normal social interaction (during which we all remain in our clothing).

I have never bought a couture dress from the House of Dior, and am not likely to in this lifetime.

Although I know who The Cookie Monster is, I have never watched Sesame Street (although I applaud their attempt to elevate preschool chat with cultural content). And we haven't had television service in almost twenty years.

I've lived in Atlanta, New York, St. Louis, Palm Harbor, New York, Rotterdam, and spent four years traveling in Europe in the seventies with a school that was relentless in its aim to have me spend days in every major art museum in Western Europe at least once. And I have continued to travel abroad, occasionally for months at a time, and in country, and still visit museums on a regular basis.

I do not shop at Target.

And until Mtnrdredux posted it here, I had not seen an image of The Wave, although I did recognize the style of art as Japanese.

Perhaps divorce from popular culture has kept me blissfully unaware of the ubiquity of The Wave and therefore able to enjoy it as art without the cultural detritus that apparently clings to it though its association with mouse pads, tv shows, tattoos and college dorms. And it's very possible that others whose cultural life has not been informed by tattoos and Target, will also be unfamiliar with the image and will be able to appreciate it for the very first time on Mtnrdredux' dining room wall.

As I said, she's almost performing a public service for people whose exposure to art has been more intentional but who just never got around to Japanese woodcuts or the poster section at a Bed, Bath and Beyond.

But not to offend my stream of guests, lovely people all, I am willing to bet only one of them will recognize it.
The image is one of my emoticon choices in my Ipad/iPhone so even if your guests have missed the flip flops, wedding dress, and leggings they might be familiar with the image.

I have a post card of the image, from the Art Institute of Chicago, hanging on my fridge. I've always wanted it painted on a car, like people do with flames on hot rods.

I say go for it. You like it. I like it. It's not a tattoo so you're not committing to forever. Don't spend too much on framing if you'll tire of it in a few years and demote it another wall. I like Pal's wide mat suggestion.

(Meekly raising hand) The image was new to me.

Maybe I've seen it before & it just never registered, but it was not familiar to me. I'm not a art enthusiast, but I've traveled a bit (U.S. & abroad) and enjoy visiting museums and local art galleries.

It may be because I've lived in NH & Maine all my life and that isn't an image that resonates as much with people decorating homes in Northern New England. DS lived in So. Cal & SF for a time and would probably cringe at my admission.

But there you have it. I would be one of Mtnrdredux's guests being introduced to the print had I not read this post.

If you love the wave, I think you should go for it. Its just a print, its not necessarily a longterm decision. And, if you are in Maine this weekend, or any othere future first Friday that is always artwalk. Maybe you will fall in love!

Perhaps divorce from popular culture has kept me blissfully unaware of the ubiquity of The Wave and therefore able to enjoy it as art without the cultural detritus that apparently clings to it though its association with mouse pads, tv shows, tattoos and college dorms. And it's very possible that others whose cultural life has not been informed by tattoos and Target, will also be unfamiliar with the image and will be able to appreciate it for the very first time on Mtnrdredux' dining room wall.

Dripping, absolutely dripping with snobbery. This was a fun thread.

Perhaps something by Robert Dente?

Regardless, I think some of those toned down blue grays in his pic would be a perfect shade for your DR as it will blend so well with the LR paper.

Here is a link that might be useful: Provincetown with sunbreaks

Thank you for your replies, which I don't have time to respond to right now. You guys keep sending me off on tangents, LOL.

Cercis, Thank you for the link! I am DEFINITELY going; we already had plans to go to the MOMA and the Met on Sept 25 since the kids have off. We are all looking forward to seeing it.
BTW, they too called it "iconic".

I played with it on Waterlogue (below). Maybe I could do a series, Warhol style. I also found someone who can make a needlepoint canvas. I wish I knew how to needlepoint, I think id kind of like that.

I actually promoted this (rather heavily) for somewhere in the house. Its a nine foot long wallpaper mural. There was a version of something like this on Masonite in one of the bathrooms(?). I know it's dated and sorta tacky.

So on the one hand I am a design snob, but on the other hand I don't like to take it too seriously. So this dated, sort of down-market, but expensive when new sort of thing is right up my alley, especially when it's on clearance as new old stock for 90% off. So, I think if I *did* hang The Wave, I would probably have to prop the flip flops next to it on the mantel just to show that I understood it wasn't art in the vein of "serious" art.

But I might have to do this, just to be weird:

A little classic McDonald's French fries now and then is a good thing:-)

The print is not a big investment and you can always move it later. I like the small matted print; with that version one would need to get a bit closer to engage with the image.

And, a shout out to the Met catalog (the Boston museum's too) and the USPS. Those were my main source of art education growing up on a rural route in the South. And yes, I later got a dorm room poster.

Hi Pal,
Yes, the 2nd floor hall bath had a sailboat mural. Since that bath was taken down to the studs, the mural is long gone. I ought to post it by the darn electrician still hasnt put my mirror sconces up. Another thread.

As to your suggestion, growing up we had a balcony between the kids bedrooms that overlooked the LR. My Mom had a mural very much like the one you showed, Pal. As kids we would do performances on that balcony for my parents. We often incorporated the mural into story lines. I also recall using it for a weather forecast backdrop.

So I can't even see it ironically; I see it as my Mom's decor (very heavy on the colonial, despite the house's modern bones). I am sure my girls will eschew my tastes when they grow up, too!

PS The other tongue-in-chic way to use the "Katsushika Hokusai's 'In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa' (popularly called "The Great Wave off Kanagawa"), about 1830-32, is to make the room an homage to the print, and use it several ways.

Oaktown,
I have never taken art history in college or grad school. I go to museums and walk around with those tape players or docents.
My exposure growing up was pretty much limited to a hand me down game called "Masterpiece". Funny story about it below

Here is a link that might be useful: Masterpiece Game

Voila!

wow! lots of responses to this thread!

not that you need any more feedback, but... the print is not what I would choose, done to death or not... i think i could find a painting or print that i liked a lot better for that spot- mainly because it doesn't feel at all like a maine beach house to me. (it says Hawaiian condo to me!! lol! tho, i wouldn't hang it there either... )
but, really, the important thing is that you and your family like it and agree on it!! i appreciate lots of different art- love to look at it and think about it... but purchasing something is a whole different thing! much of the art we have has been done by a family member or passed down from my parents... so all meaningful to me. and a favorite inexpensive ink and watercolor of ours was done by a street artist down south where we used to live. i also like art auctions where some of the $ goes to benefit something else... i can justify the purchase/commitment that way! lol
so, i wouldn't 'go shopping' for a painting for that spot- i would hang the print that your family agrees on and should you stumble upon something you absolutely love later, you could then move the wave somewhere else-- and i wouldn't worry one iota about what others who visit may think! it really would be unexpected which could add charm! :) but... i personally liked the new Yorker cover idea you were 1st toying with!!!

Cole and Son makes a paper based on this image:

Pal, That looks a lot less horrible than I'd have thought. (a compliment!)

OOh my 10:22 post related to the mural version,

The Cole and Son, oh boy now I have to think about wallpaper again. The whole room? I usually hate accent walls but not sure I can do a SECOND whole room in all blue and white paper.

wait, is that Marinagal's paper?!

wait wait wait, i was at that sight before, a long time ago. I liked this but I forget why I ruled it out

Is it too much like my spoons around the corner in the BP?

Sorry you didn't enjoy the tongue in cheek reverse snobbery, magda ;-)
I couldn't resist the fun!

I hope you do get to see it at the Met. The exhibit closes on Sept 7, but perhaps it will be displayed elsewhere. I bought a small, framed postcard size repro of it for my first solo apartment after seeing it at the Met some 25 years ago.

I have other reproductions of well known art that could be termed ubiquitous - a Degas ballerina, A. Wyeth's Master Bedroom, and a few others. Not only do I like looking at them, but I also like to explore the history of and commentary about the art and the artist. I find it gives a rich dimension to the art beyond the lines and colors. Thank you for starting this thread as I now know more about Hokusai and The Great Wave. There's a BBC documentary on it which I'm going to look for.

I very much like your idea of doing a Wharhol-style series. You would be taking an iconic image and making it unique with your special vision.

Cercis, maybe we will go this weekend instead. In the comments section under the print, where they talk about rotating prints, it was a bit unclear. I have a feeling they must have it in the permanent collection too.

In re the Warhol idea, thanks! It's a step up from dorm room maybe. : ) especially with pricey frames lol

There is a radio show and the documentary

Here is a link that might be useful: learn more

This post was edited by mtnrdredux on Wed, Sep 3, 14 at 11:03

Oh thank you!

And speaking of wallpaper, if you have time you might want to swing by Cooper Hewitt and check out the Immersion Room. You can select from among the museum's wallpaper collection and see what it looks like projected on the wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooper Hewitt

Kswl, so it was satire? Didn't get that at all.

;-) right back at 'cha.

Def planning to stay with my day job, lol!

kswl, well, you had me going there. I thought, really? I had never gotten that vibe from you before, but you wrote it with such a straight face. :p

The only thing that gave me pause was saying you'd never seen Sesame Street. I cannot imagine surviving early childhood without it.

I think any patterned wall covering would be too much unless you were heading back in an Edwardian direction, which you aren't. Waves too close in scale to the Quadrille, and Fornasetti's fish too like the spoons somehow.

Of course a certain plain paper, (cough), would be perfect.

I've been reflecting on this interesting thread and a part of me is sort of coming around to the idea of using the wave somehow.

A few people commented on how the style doesnt seem to fit a coastal maine house and that kind of stuck with me. I'm a muralist and decorative painter and the vast majority of my clientele lives on the coast of ME and NH. And there is a certain look that comes with that..iside and out, architecturally, choices of fabrics, fixtures, art, you name it. It's nice, but, it also can be repetitive and expected. I have been asked to do a lot of nautical work- sailboat murals, nautical map murals, compass roses on the floor, and on and on. Some nice projects, but a lot of the same type of theme. It's nice to get a chance to change it up now and again and do something unexpected. I recently visited relatives in Chicago and walking around my cousin's neighborhood, and was appreciating how every house was unique...I don't really see that here.

So I don't have a problem using imagery that is not Mainey, or New Englandy. I hope Mntrdredux can find a way to work the wave into her beautiful home.

I like it on these pillows

and this diorama kit

how about a table top?

If not the print, how about the New Yorker cartoon:

Here is a link that might be useful: We're in Japanese waters, that's for sure.

This may have been mentioned before

You could order a large print, have it laser cut into a huge jigsaw puzzle which could be your winter family project to put together, then shellac it and frame as planned over the mantel.

Mntrdredux, I forgot that you mentioned needlepoint. My inlaws has a friend that does hooked rugs...I don't know if that is the right term- they are not shaggy but like beefy needlepoint type things. Anyway, the friend took a shapshot of one of my inlaws dogs in the snow in front of their bard and made a wallhanging for them which now hangs in the kitchen...it's really lovely in a folk art way that fits well into their traditional New England home. I can something like that working with the wave image. and looking appropriate for your space

LOL, had to google, and of course the hooked rug version has been done too!!!

http://www.maryjanesrugs.com/blog/1897880-rugs-from-canaan/

Linelle, actually the facts are actually all true, it's the conclusions that are sarcastic, lol. My kids did not like Sesame Street!

Sorry for the hijack, now return to regular programming.

I never would have thought this was a 135+ thread!

oh well!

I still love the print. I think it works, and is a bit of a riff on the expected NE seascape.

But I totally see the naysayer's views!

We are going to see it in person later this month before we decide anything. We may nix it altogether, or may do a riff on it, or may buy an oversized reproduction print, or may buy a genuine antique woodblock print (they are not cheap, but not terribly terribly rare).

Until then, I strongly urge anyone with a passing interest in the image to go to youtube and see the documentary. Quite interesting.

In the meantime, I am still slogging thru all of the links and suggestions! Thank you.

Mtn - I like the Waterlogue print in your post of 9:32; I don't see a problem with "tampering" with something that's not an original. Okay, the Mona Lisa with a goofy grin, that would be wrong.

Had another idea, if you decide on The Wave. You could print out this thread, and have it bound in a simple folder covered with the fabric for your pillows, so that it looked like an amusing book. Prop it on the mantel or place it casually on the buffet or in another informal setting. Then, when people comment on the picture, you could show them the "book" and invite them to read about how your decision was made. These are the kinds of touches that imo humanize a collection and become heirlooms in themselves.

This is a most fascinating thread, and it perfectly expresses my dilemma in not hanging a large print of my favorite painting - Renoir's Luncheon of Boating Party - on the living room wall across from my computer. I have never seen the original (in Washington D.C.) and how I would love to look at it every day! With this painting, I don't believe that familiarity would breed contempt. But still...

It is interesting Sable, that , somehow, Masterpieces have become, in a way, gauche.

Surely the fact that they are in the public domain and free plays into it; no shelter mag editor will promote them on behalf of an advertiser for sure!

But where else in life does one come across a circumstance where the best of the best is also the cheapest?

Masterpiece was my favorite board game growing up! Dad, Grandma and I played all the time.

And, Mtn, that only applies to the visual arts! Everyone on this thread can read The Brothers Karamazov, and, first editions aside, no copy of the book will be better than another, and an excellent experience is available to all; the same with music, the beauty of Beethoven's Ninth is not restricted to one performance by one conductor, we can all enjoy it. The same with ballet and opera. Only with the visual arts is there An Original and no copy comes near, and if you consider hanging a print, you get 140 posts...

Fabulous point Sable! And in a similar vein no one looks down on you if you read and reread the classics, even if everyone read it in 7th grade.

Of course, the issue here isn't print vs. original. The issue is one of the image itself... Of course it's fabulous and beautiful and that's why it's been reproduced over so many years in so many ways. I think the comparison is with the Mona Lisa or even the Statue of Liberty. Both beautiful images, both are extremely recognizable and have been loved by many for many years. No question about anyone owning the original, so it's a matter of reproduction and in what medium. Having a picture of the statue of liberty hanging in your house is one thing. Andy Warhol morphed the iconic image and having it hang in a room is another. So would be a statue of liberty snow globe.

And of course it isn't a question of whether she could hang it or not...she can hang anything she dang well pleases.

And it's not a question of anyone looking down on you as you're fabulous and have done fabulous things with a fabulous house. The question is really one of will it get you where you want to go with the room...if it will enhance or diminish your vision of the room, what you want it to say and what feelings you want it to evoke in the people who occupy it.

I know you like the unusual and unexpected, and all the "maine" pics in themselves become expected and iconic and I can understand you not wanting to go there. I also understand how an iconic image can become the unexpected...because it is so iconic, no one will use it in a formal setting, so you will.

So I guess I'm changing my mind. If you like it, if the family likes it, it's not expensive and can always be replaced when and if you find something you like better.

For me, I'd turn it into a craft project...take the poster, cut it up into squares and mount it on blocks of various heights to make it more textural so it keeps the image, the colors, the theme, but makes it more unique and less kitsch. But that's me.

BTW, I too am surprised at how many posts this thread has gotten! Art definitely strikes home, no?

Fascinating to see how many adaptations or riffs on that original Wave.

I wouldn't just hang the "original" poster but play around with it, like Anniee suggested.

How about framing a T-shirt with it? Or a paint-by-number makeover?

Or maybe combining several iconic art works, like the starry night wave as a starting point and adding something like this:

Wow.

This thead is ...

Wow.

If you like the print, buy it and hang it and move on. It's cheap and your family likes it.

When you get tired of it, or when you find something else, you can move it elsewhere. It would also look great in a bathroom, lol.

In my experience, you can't just go out looking for fabulous art. Fabulous art comes looking for you.

In my summer place (it's tiny), I needed some art for over the fireplace. Couldn't find anything that l loved, so I bought an inexpensive, innocuous print of some trees. It stayed there for five years, offending no one, not even me.

Last year I had an inspiration. I went to the Town Hall and got a large xerox copy of the original 1923 lakeside plot plan. I tea-stained it to look old, framed it, and hung it and I LOVE it.

And the print of the trees? I don't remember what I did with it. I think I put it out in the garbage.

Just skimmed this thread Mnt and had to point out I have never seen nor heard of the Wave. I must have lived under a rock...but I can assure you I have not. I do not shop Target (politics) and lived through the seventies and missed it even then.
If you truly love the piece as artwork and not just because it "goes" so well in your to die for house; then get it.
I would get the version that may appreciate some in value.
The smaller woodcut in the large matted frame is my favorite for your mantle.
Since your kids love it also it will be a great placeholder for something you may find in the future. And the woodcut would be the one to hang somewhere else and pass down to kids.
You've had all the right instincts so far for your home, this one is good also. Even if it didn't match the fabric so well...

The hooked rug version made me laugh out loud. This thread reminds me of the toilet tank decorating thread from '09.

Mtn, have you decided on anything yet?

I was among the "anti-" group but not because I have anything against the print itself, or ubiquitous, obvious or even down-market art. I don't know where I will put these in my current house because I don't have a stairwell with as much wallspace this time around

Wow...
Knitted

Decal --- now, that's pretty cool

Mar McCauley, Fiber artist

And Jelly Beans

Allison,

We are going to see it in person later this month during a planned visit to the Met on a day off from school.

At that time I will decide to
1. nix it
2. buy the real deal; a genuine antique block print
3. buy a reproduction in the size i like
4. buy or create a riff on the image

Again, I have watched and highly recommend the BBC documentary on The Great Wave.

My "wake up" test (when you first wake up, what is your choice), three days running, says "yes". We will see!

PS My son was just assigned a documentary to look at , The World in 100 Objects? Guess what one of them is?

Here is a link that might be useful: Very interesting documentary on

Hi Mtn!
It's been forever and a day since I've been on here. In fact, I think last I was here you were still looking at the other property. I can't believe you're done!
I say go for it if you like it. You can always swap it out later. If you decide not to it, I have a tendency to not like paintings over fireplaces. I guess it's the rectangle over rectangle thing. I've used fireboards in two homes, both made by Maine artist Hope Angier, and then done other items above the mantle. You could also consider that as an option:

Wow.

This thead is ...

Wow.

If you like the print, buy it and hang it and move on. It's cheap and your family likes it.

When you get tired of it, or when you find something else, you can move it elsewhere. It would also look great in a bathroom, lol.

In my experience, you can't just go out looking for fabulous art. Fabulous art comes looking for you.

In my summer place (it's tiny), I needed some art for over the fireplace. Couldn't find anything that l loved, so I bought an inexpensive, innocuous print of some trees. It stayed there for five years, offending no one, not even me.

Last year I had an inspiration. I went to the Town Hall and got a large xerox copy of the original 1923 lakeside plot plan. I tea-stained it to look old, framed it, and hung it and I LOVE it.

And the print of the trees? I don't remember what I did with it. I think I put it out in the garbage.