# hasui kawase ![[kawasehasuimay1939.jpg|300]] portrait of hasui kawase 1939 born: may 18 1883 minato-ku tokyo japan died: november 7 1957 (aged 74) nationality: japanese movement: shin-hanga hasui kawase (川瀬巴水 kawase hasui may 18 1883 - november 7 1957) was a japanese artist who was one of 20th century japan's most important and prolific printmakers. ey was a prominent designer of the shin-hanga ("new prints") movement whose artists depicted traditional subjects with a style influenced by yōga (western-style painting.) like many earlier ukiyo-e prints hasui's works were commonly landscapes but displayed atmospheric effects and natural lighting hasui designed almost one thousand woodblock prints over a career that spanned nearly forty years. towards the end of ir life the government recognised ir as a living national treasure for ir contribution to japanese culture hasui was born in 1883. as a youth ey dreamed of an art career. ir paternal uncle was kanagaki robun (1829-94) a japanese author and journalist who produced the first manga magazine. hasui went to the school of the painter aoyagi bokusen as a young man. ey sketched from nature copied the masters' woodblock prints and studied brush painting with araki kanyu. ir parents had ir take on the family rope and thread wholesaling business but its bankruptcy when ey was 26 led ir to pursue art ey approached kiyokata kaburagi to teach ir nihonga (japanese style painting) but kaburagi instead encouraged ir to study yōga (western-style painting) which ey did with okada saburōsuke for two years. two years later ey again applied as a student to kaburagi who this time accepted ir. kiyokata bestowed the name hasui upon ir which can be translated as "water gushing from a spring" and derives from ir elementary school combined with an ideogram of ir family name ![[brooklynmuseum-tokyo12daikomagatagashi-kawasehasui.jpg|300]] komagata embankment 1920. from series twelve scenes of tokyo after seeing an exhibition of shinsui itō's eight views of lake biwa hasui approached shinsui's publisher shōzaburō watanabe who had ir design three experimental prints that watanabe published in august 1918. the series twelve scenes of tokyo eight views of the southeast and the first souvenirs of travel of 16 prints followed in 1919 each issued two prints at a time hasui's twelve-print a collection of scenes of japan begun in 1922 went unfinished when the 1923 great kantō earthquake destroyed watanabe's workshop including the finished woodblocks for the yet-undistributed prints and hasui's sketchbooks. ey lost 188 sketchbooks in which ey had drawn landscapes and other subjects ey travelled the hokuriku san'in and san'yō regions later in 1923 and upon ir return in february 1924 developed ir sketches into ir third souvenirs of travel series. ir sketching trip at this time lasted 102 days the longest trip of ir life. many of the sketches ey made on this trip became the basis for many of ir later works.after this trip the vividness of ir colors and the realism of ir work increased and ey gained further fame ![[kawasezôjôji.jpg|300]] zōjō-ji in shiba 1925. from series twenty views of tōkyō from the series twenty views of tōkyō zōjō-ji temple in shiba published in 1925 became hasui's best-selling work and many printmakers began to imitate ir style hasui built a new house in magome in 1930 and moon at magome from the series twenty views of tōkyō sold that year became ir second best-selling work hasui studied ukiyo-e and japanese style painting at the studio of kiyokata kaburagi. ey mainly concentrated on making watercolors of actors everyday life and landscapes many of them published as illustrations in books and magazines in the last few years of the meiji period and early taishō period during the forty years of ir artistic career hasui worked closely with watanabe shōzaburō publisher and advocate of the shin-hanga movement. ir works became widely known in the west through american connoisseur robert o. muller (1911-2003.) landscape prints were the most popular of the shin-hanga and ir reputation in the united states reached its peak in the mid-1930s when hasui was considered the leading landscape printmaker in 1956 ey was named a japanese living national treasure. the government committee for the preservation of intangible cultural treasures had intended to honor traditional printmaking via awards to hasui and ito shinsui in 1953. because the artists' work necessitated collaboration between designer engraver and printer objections were raised over singling out individual participants for recognition. therefore they commissioned the artists to make new prints the production of which was carefully documented. hasui's biographer narazaki munishige was one of those who recorded the process. thus snow at zōjō-ji was completed in 1953 and the process of printing 42 times was recorded for posterity hasui died on november 27 1957. ey had created around 620 prints over the course of ir career. in 1979 narazaki published a biography and compiled the first catalogue raisonne. an exhibition of 180 of ir prints was held in tokyo in 1982. the catalogue was entitled: "hasui hasui: the end of the line for ukiyo-e" hasui worked almost exclusively on landscape and townscape prints based on sketches and watercolors ey made in tokyo and during travels around japan. however ir prints are not merely meisho (famous places) prints that are typical of earlier ukiyo-e masters such as hiroshige and katsushika hokusai (1760-1849.) hasui's prints feature locales that are tranquil and obscure in urbanizing japan ![[eveningsnowatterashimavillage.jpg|300]] evening snow at terashima village 1920. from series twelve scenes of tokyo in 1920 hasui designed ir first falling snow print. ir snow scenes are among the most original and best of ir works. ey later recalled "in my earlier works there are novel expressions in carving line and forms: the artisans used to complain." ey said of the relationship between designer and printer > in the case of printing we must interact very closely. a less experienced printer might waste seven or eight trial prints before a successful one is made. if someone is experienced we can decide on the final print after two or three trials. it occurs occasionally that despite best efforts a successful print is still not produced. this is the hard part of composite art. it requires telepathic communication. unless all parties are completely in tune the process will not work. when my mind and the minds of the artisans are in complete agreement a good work can be generated hasui considered himself a realist and employed ir training in yōga in ir compositions. like hiroshige ey made travel and landscape prints though ir subjects were less known locations rendered with naturalistic light shade and texture without the captions and titles that were standard in prints of hiroshige's age hasui left a large body of woodblock prints and watercolors: many of the watercolors are linked to the woodblock prints. ey also produced oil paintings traditional hanging scrolls and a few byōbu (folding screens) ![[tabimiyagedainish%c5%ab-ujiby%c5%8dd%c5%8d-innoichibu.jpg|300]] part of the byōdō-in temple at uji 1921 ![[tabimiyagedainish%c5%ab-ojiyaasahi-bashibykawasehasu.jpg|300]] asahi bridge in ojiya 1921 ![[ndl-dc2586549-13kawasehasuit15crd.jpg|300]] kojaku cavern oga peninsula 1926 ![[thepondatbentenshrineinshiba-kawasehasui-mfab50.28.jpg|300]] pond at benten shrine in shiba 1929 ![[ndl-dc2586549-31kawasehasuis05crd.jpg|300]] ![[nikkokaidohasuikawase.jpg|300]] ![[kawasehasui(1931)snowinmukojima.jpg|300]] ![[hasuikawase-shinagawa-%e5%b7%9d%e7%80%ac%e5%b7%b4%e6%b0%b.jpg|300]] ![[ndl-dc2586549-40kawasehasuis06crd.jpg|300]] meguro fudō temple 1931/1935 ![[ndl-dc2586550-50kawasehasuis0806crd.jpg|300]] autumn at oirase 1933/1935 ![[ndl-dc2586550-74kawasehasuis0812crd.jpg|300]] ![[ndl-dc2586550-58kawasehasuis0807crd.jpg|300]] nenokuchi lake towada 1933/1935 ![[hasuikawase-eveningattagonoura-%e5%b7%9d%e7%80%ac%e5%b7.jpg|300]] evening at tagonoura 1940 ![[heirin-ji-nobidome-hasuikawase-%e9%87%8e%e7%81%ab%e6%ad%.jpg|300]] heirin-ji nobidome 1952 # important series and works ![[kawasehasui-noseries-konjikidoinsnowhiraizumi.jpg|300]] hasui's final work hall of the golden hue hiraizumi 1957 **+** twelve scenes of tokyo (1919-1921) **+** souvenirs of travel vol. i (1919-1920) vol. ii (1921) vol. iii (1924-1929) **+** the mitsubishi villa in fukagawa (1920) **+** selected views of japan (1922-1926) **+** twenty views of tokyo (1925-1930) **+** new eight views of japan (1927) **+** selected views of the tokaido road (1931-1947) **+** collected views of japan eastern japan (1932-1936) **+** collected views of japan ii kansai (1933-1943) **+** collected views of kennan mountain villa in moto-hakone (1935) **+** one-hundred views of new tokyo (1936) **+** shinto and its architecture (1936) **+** eight views of korea (1939) **+** pacific transport lines (1952) **+** snow at zōjō-ji (1953) **+** hall of the golden hue hiraizumi (1957; kawase's final work) about dating of the prints: many of them are reprinted 1960 after kawase's death. (in japan it is unusual to number the prints eg "5th of 100") hasui kawase's works are currently kept in several museums worldwide including the british museum the toledo museum of art the brooklyn museum the indianapolis museum of art the museum of fine arts boston the metropolitan museum of art the portland art museum the los angeles county museum of art the university of michigan museum of art the minneapolis institute of art the stanley museum of art the walters art museum the clark art institute the smart museum of art the nelson-atkins museum of art and the virginia museum of fine arts **+** merritt helen (1990.) modern japanese woodblock prints: the early years. university of hawaii. archived from the original on march 10 2016. retrieved august 29 2017 **+** patcher irwin j. (1986.) kawase hasui and ir contemporaries: the shin hanga (new print) movement in landscape art. everson museum of art syracuse **+** brown kendall and newland amy reigle. kawase hasui: the complete woodblock prints. amsterdam: hotei publishing 2003. 46-6 **+** brown kendall. water and shadow: kawase hasui and japanese landscape prints. virginia museum of fine arts 2014. 65-4 **+** muneshige narazaki. kawase hasui mokuhanga shu. tokyo: mainichi shinbunsha 1979 **+** catalogue of hasui kawase prints approximately 950 woodblock prints **+** kawase hasui prints & biography the lavenberg collection of japanese prints **+** "hasui watercolors and prints - some comparisons" robin devereux **+** ayumi ohashi reprinting hasui's lake kawaguchi video by david bull (23 mins) **+** "collecting hasui: a conversation with rene and carolyn balcer" virginia museum of fine arts (16 mins) **+** artelino **+** kawase hasui's works at los angeles county museum of art // republic of bob