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Jeff Wall Photographs 1978-2004Exhibtion at Tate Modern, . Information and resources on Jeff Wall at Tate Online.
Jeff Wall: Photographs 1978-2004
A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai) 1993
Transparency in lightbox. 2500 x 3970 mm
Tate. Purchased with assistance from the Patrons of New Art through the Tate Gallery Foundation and from the National Art Collections Fund 1995
Cinematographic photograph
© The artist

This work is one of Wall's earliest digital montages. It refers directly to a woodblock print by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. Wall transposes the nineteenth-century Japanese scene to a contemporary cranberry farm near Vancouver. Amateur actors play the odd assortment of rural and city characters, surprised by the forces of nature. It required over 100 photographs, taken over the course of more than a year, to achieve a seamless montage that gives the illusion of capturing a real moment in time.

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view comparison image: Katsushika Hokusai, 36 Views of Mount Fuji, 1830s
 
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