Discussion

Wind

Wind is caused by moving air. Air all over the Earth is caused to move by the Earth's rotation and is further influenced by heat from the sun. Globally, the Earth is divided into six convection zones. In the middle latitudes, like where we live, the general movement of the air is from the west to the east. Wind and weather can be much more complex if studied more closely, but those are the basic facts.

Meteorologists use a variety of instruments to study the atmosphere. The anemometer for measuring wind speed, pictured below, is one such instrument.

The wind sock is one way to measure wind direction, and some can measure wind speed, too. They are often visible near airport landing strips where airplane pilots can easily see them.

Another common way to detect wind direction is the weather vane. The arrow points in the direction the wind is coming from. In this case, the arrow tells us that a north wind is blowing.

The atmosphere seems so insubstantial that we often think it is inconsequential. Tell that to Dorothy Gale whose house was carried to the Land of Oz and dropped on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, courtesy of a tornado.

Though tornados, whirlwinds, hurricanes, typhoons, and such like can cause damage, they're usually thought of as short-term nuisances, though the damage they cause can be costly. However, wind can influence geology over long periods of time, too. So-called mushroom rocks like this one, carved by wind-blown grit over long periods of time, can be found all over the world.

Entire ancient cities have been buried beneath wind-driven shifting sand dunes.

Since the theme of this week's paintings is wintery wind landscapes, it is helpful to be reminded of a winter phenomenon rarely seen in Southern California; the blizzard.

Wind, like the air in general, is invisible (or mostly so), so artists who want to paint windy scenes usually need to show the effect wind has on objects and people instead. Several examples are shown below.

Artwork

Tawaraya Sōtatsu (1570 - 1640)

Sōtatsu is one of the founders of the Rinpa school of Japanese art, an informal collection of artists who admired and imitated each other's works. Rinpa artworks use a highly decorative style of painting having clear composition and brilliant colors. It has strongly influenced many western artists. Sōtatsu's painting of the gods of wind and thunder, Fuujin Raijin zu, is a good way to start this week's classical art examples..

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849)

Hokusai is best known for his ukiyo-e paintings, especially the series, 36 Views of Mount Fuji, the most famous of which is The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Note that waves are wind-driven. Another painting from that series is number 10, Ejiri in Suruga Province. Ejiri was the 18th of the 53 stations of the Tōkaidō, a government maintained road connecting Edo with Kyōto.

Among Hokusai's many other works is a book of sumi paintings titled 100 Views of Mount Fuji. (He liked Mt. Fuji a lot.) This one is titled Kogarashi no Fuji (Mount Fuji's Wintery Wind

The commentary about this painting in an English Language version of the book says:

A chill wind whips across the fields of winter crops and threatens to tear away the elaborate system of defense against birds--strings of wooden noisemakers and a raised guard-hut for tugging them on windless days. But today the system of defense [is] itself defenseless, as are the three figures who struggle against the wind below. The sawed-off stump of a huge tree to the right adds a powerful sense of hill and a deeper meaning to the title kogarashi, literally a "witherer of trees." Above it all, unperturbed, the Mountain.

Utagawa Hirokage

Hirokage was active as an ukiyo-e artist from about 1855 to 1865. He was a student of Utagawa Hiroshige's (1797 - 1858) from 1860 to 1861. The print below, titled Strong wind on the Shin-Ohashi Bridge, was produced in 1859. It is part of his series, Comical Views of Famous Places in Edo.

Taguchi Beisaku (1864 – 1903)

Japan and China went to war over control of Korea in 1894 - 95. Known as the first Sino-Japanese War, Japan decisively won. The Japanese public, eager for news and images of the war, bought woodblock prints depicting war-related scenes in large quantities since newspapers weren't yet developed enough to be an adequate replacement. The most prominent woodblock artist providing images of the war was Kiyochika Kobayashi (1847 - 1915). Nearly as good was a student of his, Taguchi Beisaku. Triptychs were among the most common war-related prints. Beisaku's triptych below (1895) is titled Japanese Officer Reconnoiters enemy Positions.

Ohara Koson (1877 - 1945)

Shin-hanga (new prints), an early 20th century art movement in Japan, was an effort to return Japanese art to traditional subjects and values established in the Edo and early Meiji periods. Koson was a major member of that movement. His Willow Bridge in Winter (1918) is relatively calm in comparison with Hirokage's comedy print above, but an artistic family resemblance can be seen.

Kawase Hasui (1883 - 1957)

Hasui's artistic career spanned nearly 40 years during which he produced over 650 shin-hanga prints. He was named a Japanese Living National Treasure in 1956 for his contributions to Japanese culture. His work was well known in the west. His snow scenes like Snow at Zojoji Temple (1922) below are among his best work.

The flaring coat tails of the person in the picture help establish the presence of wind, as does the streams of falling snow. Wintery wind, indeed.