- Kawase Hasui
Kawase Hasui (川瀬 巴水, 1883 – 1957) was a Japanese woodblock printmaker in the early 20th century. He and
Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950) are widely regarded as two of the greatest artists of theshin hanga style, and are known especially for their excellentlandscape prints. During the forty years of his artistic career, Hasui worked closely withWatanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962), publisher and advocate of theshin hanga movement. His works became widely known in the West through Americanconnoisseur Robert O. Muller (1911-2003). In 1956, he was named a Living National Treasure inJapan .Artistic Style
Hasui worked almost exclusively on
landscape and townscape prints based onsketches he made inTokyo and during travels around Japan. However, his prints are not merely meisho (famous places) prints that are typical of earlierukiyo-e masters such asHiroshige andKatsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Hasui’s prints feature locale that are tranquil and obscure in urbanizing Japan. The dreamlike quality in Hasui’s prints epitomizes a yearning for the past and a preservation of the past in the midst of rapidmodernization .Important Works
*Twelve Scenes of Tokyo (1919-1921)
*Selections of Scenes of Japan (1922-1926)
*Snow at Zojo Temple (1953)
*Hall of the Golden Hue, Hiraizumi (1957; Hasui’s final work)References
*Brown, Kendall and Newland, Amy Reigle. "Kawase Hasui: the Complete Woodblock Prints". Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2003.
External links
* [http://www.hanga.com/landscape/hasui/ Kawase Hasui] Information, print gallery,...
* [http://www.artelino.com/articles/hasui_kawase.asp Kawase Hasui] Information, auctions,...
* [http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/dreamWorlds/default.htm Dream Worlds: Modern Japanese Prints and Paintings from the Robert O. Muller Collection] Online Exhibition
* [http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=link;dtype=d;key=106576;page=701900101 Kawase Hasui's works at Los Angeles County Museum of Art]
* [http://spectacle.berkeley.edu/~fiorillo/index.html Viewing Japanese Prints]
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