College of DuPage Humanities Professor Julia DiLiberti gives a lecture about The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, a piece usually attributed to Katsushika Hokusai. DiLiberti presents a theory that his daughter, having come back into his life, seems an equally likely creator of the image. Oei Katsushika--an artist in her own right, and probably a hand-steadying presence in her father’s workshop--at least helped create this piece that has since influenced Monet, Van Gogh, Claudel, Rosen, and Chandler to name a very few of the artists swept away by The Great Wave. This presentation will look at Katsushika’s art independent of her father’s, and then will consider art pieces of three other women across cultures and time directly influenced by this most famous of Japanese prints.

This lecture is part of College of DuPage Humanities Festival 2025. For the full Humanities Fest Schedule of events, see below: