Hasui | Snow at Shinkawabata, Handa, Bishu, Selection of views of the Tokaido
川瀨巴水 Kawase Hasui ( 1883–1957)
东海道风景选集 尾州半田新川端
Snow at Shinkawabata, Handa, Bishu, from the series of Selection of views of the Tokaido
1935
木版画 | 纵绘大大判 | 38.7cm x 25.6cm
Woodblock-print | Large Oban tate-e | 38.7cm x 25.6cm
初摺；品相非常好
First edition; great condition
SOLD
尾州，尾张国别称，日本旧令制国，原国域约相当于现爱知县西部地区。半田，即半田市，位于爱知县西南部，知多半岛中部。自江户中期起，此地便随着酿造业与航运业的蓬勃发展，逐渐成长为繁荣的港口城市。明治后更是跃升为知多半岛的行政中心。现为名古屋都市圈中心城市之一。贯穿城市的半田运河（新川）缓缓流动，一排排深色木板墙的仓库紧密排列在它身旁。小雪天气，身着大衣的男人撑着油纸伞，与翘起尾巴的活泼爱犬漫步于运河岸的小路。一袭大衣灰黑，一身毛色深棕，人与狗仿佛是白色雪景中的两处剪影，是那样的令人印象深刻。两点明黄的灯光，在画面尽头若隐若现，丝丝暖意，也慢慢浮上心头
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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.