Landscape to City: A Collection of 20th Century Japanese Prints
Landscape to City: A Collection of 20th Century Japanese Prints
Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) | Shirahige in Snow (Yuki no Shirahige) | Taisho period, early 20th century
A rare group of pre-earthquake prints
Lot Closed
November 18, 02:11 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 10,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)
Shirahige in Snow (Yuki no Shirahige)
Taisho period, early 20th century
woodblock print, from the series Twelve Scenes of Tokyo (Tokyo junidai), signed Hasui, and with artist's pre-earthquake taijitu seal Sui, publisher's circular seal Watanabe (Watanabe Shozaburo), dated Taisho kyu fuyu (winter 1920)
Horizontal oban: 26.4 x 39 cm., 10⅜ x 15⅜ in.
Hasui first began to design prints when he offered to work with the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962). He was greatly inspired by his younger contemporary Ito Shinsui (1898-1972) (see Lots 42-51), who had earlier collaborated with Watanabe to revive the woodblock landscape genre with his series Eight Views of Omi (Omi hakkei) in 1917. The fruits of this collaboration culminated in the set Twelve Tokyo Subjects (Tokyo junidai, 1919-1921). The series promised a new age of ukiyo-e landscape which often took the capital of Edo, now Tokyo, as its muse. However, after the Great Kanto Earthquake and fire of September 1923, Hasui’s large corpus with Watanabe turned primarily towards country subjects, as much that was celebrated in Tokyo for its beauty was rendered destroyed by the tremors of the quake.
In this riverside view of Shirahige in Snow, much can be seen that is characteristic of Hasui’s early work. Located along the Sumida River in the Sumida Ward, the restrained palette and calming depiction of this snowy townscape has a light touch and atmosphere espoused in his pre-earthquake designs. The printing on especially thick paper is of a sensuous quality that does not reappear after the earthquake. Issued in an edition of two hundred, it is thought that subsequent pulls were not taken from the blocks.1 The early set is commonly referred to as among the artist’s finest designs, noted for his select treatment of lesser known spots, replete with a poignancy and seasonal atmosphere, instead of meisho [lit. famous places] as was convention in the Edo period. Nonetheless, his rendition of the metropolis of Tokyo in designs such as this has led Hasui to be named a true successor of the great ukiyo-e landscape artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858).
1. Lawrence Smith et al., Japanese Art: Masterpieces in the British Museum (London, 1990).
For a similar impression of the same print in the collection of the British Museum, museum number 1946,0209,0.69, go to:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1946-0209-0-69
For a further impression in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums, object number 1937.103, go to: