Hasui | Nenokuchi, Towada, Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Wastern Japan Edition
川瀨巴水 Kawase Hasui ( 1883–1957)
日本风景集 东日本篇 十和田子之口
Nenokuchi, Towada, from the series of Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Wastern Japan Edition
1933
木版画 | 纵绘大大判 | 39cm x 26cm
Woodblock-print | Large Oban tate-e | 39cm x 26cm
试印版；品相非常好
Test print before official publication; great condition
$4,800
《日本风景集东日本篇》是川濑巴水于1932至1936年创作的风景画系列。全套共计24幅，描绘了北海道、青森、岩手、宫城四地的多处风景名胜。因作品所表现的时节多为秋冬季，故整体气质清冷而静谧。位于青森县十和田市十和田湖东岸的子之口，是十和田湖畔的观光据点；同时，也是游客们徒步奥入濑溪流的集散地。许多远道而来的徒步爱好者们都会将车停泊在子之口，而后逆流而上，开启一段长达14公里的美妙旅程。1932年10月28日，巴水来到子之口写生。时值深秋，金风送爽，巴水手持画笔，望着湖心处出神。远处的湖岸与山峦已经被夜色笼罩，片片云层中渗下的缕缕夕阳被湖面放大，反射出温暖明亮的光芒。伴随着道道的水纹切近，一枝粗壮的树干横亘眼前，以未凋零尽的片片秋叶应和黄昏。巴水时而提笔添上几画，时而用目光捕捉那些转瞬即逝的光斑，直至夜幕降临。巴水在脑中想象了这天黄昏的无数种呈现方式，但依然拿不定主意。在监制完版木后，他用记忆中的色彩试印了一套数量稀少的初版，也即本作版次。不同于鲜明度高、对比清晰的正式版，此版的色调朦胧且浪漫，一切都沉浸在薄薄的绛紫中，似乎瞬间就能将人的思绪拉回到某个黄昏的湖边，随着渐弱的光线，慢慢模糊了视线。
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Kawase Hasui (1883–1957)
Kawase Hasui is perhaps the single most recognized woodblock artist of the Shin Hanga – new print – movement in the early- to mid-20th Century. Because he specialized in landscapes, many would say he was a successor to Hiroshige, noting his enveloping portrayals of nature, and his thoughtful placement of humans within them. But that would be too easy, because Hiroshige and Hasui in many ways could not be more different.
Whereas Hiroshige played with flat plains of negative space, Hasui embraced Western painting styles – if not techniques – to display water reflections, shadows and shades of light in all its combinations. You can easily discern the time of day and season from the light. Signs of the 20th Century Japan are everywhere – rickshaws, cars, telephone poles, steamships, even western-style umbrellas and rain slickers. Yes, he embraced snow and rain scenes like Hiroshige, and many famous views, but they live in a three-dimensional, modern world.
His prints are hugely sought-after today, with condition being extremely important to collectors. Many of the original woodblocks were destroyed in the Great Earthquake of 1923; finding examples of those pre-quake prints is challenging, indeed.
He was born Bunjiro Kawase in Tokyo in 1883, the son of a merchant. Hasui studied Japanese-style painting with Kiyokata and Western painting at the Hakubakai. He exhibited his first painting at 19. The publisher Shozaburo Watanabe – seeing the appeal of woodblock prints to the Western tourists then flooding Japan – took Hasui under his wing. The young man travelled widely to capture landscapes, making sketches as he went. Looking at the detail and perspective in some of his prints, one wonders: did he work from photographs as well?
Hasui’s Zojoji Temple in Snow – with a man pushing against the furious snow with a traditional umbrella -- has been named an Intangible Cultural Treasure, the greatest artistic honor in postwar Japan. He died in 1957.
The publishers Doi, Kawaguchi, Sakai and others also produced some Hasui works. Learning to read the seals on the prints, and therefore dating them, takes time but is well worth it. If you can find this book at a reasonable price, go for it. It’s all there.