Rough Waves. Artist: Ogata Korin (Japanese, 1658-1716). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 57 11/16 x 65 1/8 in. (146.5 x 165.4 cm)Overall: 59 1/4 x 66 1/2 in. (150.5 x 168.9 cm). Date: ca. 1704-9.Many artists and poets of the East and West alike have striven to capture the transitory and fleeting image of swelling waves. Korin's rendition--one of Japan's most striking representations of this amorphous, ungraspable form--has a strangely menacing feel, due no doubt to the long, tentacle-like fingers of foam, punctured here and there by openings. Outlined in ink using the ancient Chinese technique of drawing with two brushes held together in one hand, the clawlike waves are peculiarly reminiscent of dragons' talons. The immediate inspiration for the screen may have been images by Sesson Shukei (ca. 1504-ca. 1589), whose extant works include a number of dynamic and mysterious renderings of waves.The screen bears a seal reading "Dosu," the name Korin adopted in 1704. Recent research sug