Hasui - Evening Snow at the Edo River

Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水, 1883–1957)

Date: 1932
Publisher: Doi Sadaichi (Doi Hangaten)
Genre: Ukiyo-e, Meisho-e
Medium: Woodblock Print, Oban

Shin-hanga landscape woodblock print by Kawase Hasui. In falling snow at dusk, two women in green and pink kimono shelter under red and blue umbrellas as they cross a snow-covered wooden bridge over the Edo River. A snow-laden willow fills the foreground, and snow-covered houses with lit windows line the far bank. Signed Hasui with red seal, inscribed with the title and the date Shōwa 7 (1932). The left margin has the copyright seal of Doi Sadaichi and the carver (Endō) and printer (Matsushita) seals.

Condition: Very good condition. Not backed. Very good overall condition.

About the artist
Kawase Hasui (1883–1957) was a leading landscape artist of the shin-hanga ("new prints") movement in early 20th-century Japan. After first training in Western-style painting, he joined the school of the nihonga painter Kaburagi Kiyokata. He then worked with the publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō for more than thirty years. Hasui is known for landscapes and cityscapes showing dawn, dusk, snow, rain and moonlight, and his best-known series are Twelve Scenes of Tokyo and Souvenirs of Travel.

Examples of this print can be found in the following collections:

• Art Institute of Chicago
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art