Tag: dailyprompt-1921

My favourite emoji

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What are your favorite emojis?

The ink block print, “the great wave of Kanagawa” by Hokusai is the basis of the wave emoji that we use today:

🌊

Unfortunately I could not find an image of the original print on the WordPress image search engine, and my phone won’t save images when I click on them. But you might have seen the picture? A towering wave is breaking in foaming pieces over two japanese fishing boats full of rowing men. In the background across the sea the magnificent mount Fuji stands with it’s upper slopes covered with snow.

Hokusai created many images of mount Fuji, but the great wave is perhaps the best known, it is well deserved that it is represented by this emoji. If you want to find out more about Hokusai its worth looking him up online. He was a wonderful artist.

The wave

Posted on Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

What are your favorite emojis?

I like the wave emoji, it’s actually based on a wood block print by the Japanese artist Hokusai. The picture is called the great wave off Kanagawa, and you can see the simplified version in the emoji.

You can actually look up the basis of emojis at a website, it’s called Emojipedia, https://emojipedia.org the description says :

The emoji search engine. A fast emoji search experience with options to browse every emoji by name, category, or platform.

We looked at signs and signifiers at college, and how one symbol or sign can include the idea of an object in it. The wave emoji is an example of a symbol that signifies the real object (a real wave) as well as the Hokusai version. Other emojis can be more or less abstract or realistic.

If you have never explored Hokusai then have a look for his work. He even influenced artists like Vincent Van Gogh who ordered prints from Japan and displayed them at his brother Theos gallery where he tried to sell them.

Emojis, more interesting than I thought!