Japan Art and Kawase Hasui
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The acclaimed Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) belongs to the printing world of Shin-Hanga (New Prints). Accordingly, he focused on Shin-Hanga during the Taisho and Showa periods of Japanese history.
The British Museum says, “In 1907 he began studying Western-style art, especially landscape, at the Hakuba-kai (White Horse Society) and took guidance from Okada Saburosuke (1869-1939); subsequently in 1910 he became a pupil of Kaburaki Kiyokata who gave him the art name Hasui, though the greatest influence on his style and palette was the ‘Nihonga’ painter Imamura Shiko (1880-1916).”
The tranquility of the art pieces by Hasui belies the convulsions that hit Japan throughout his lifetime. This concerns internal and external convulsions – and enormous social changes. Therefore, it is easy to imagine people feeling comfort and a sense of continuity when viewing his art.
The Sompo Museum of Art says, One of the key supporters of woodblock production was Shozaburo Watanabe, a woodblock print publisher and leader of the shin-hanga (new prints) movement. Their strong desire to create something special lead them to strive for woodblock prints that could also be appreciated overseas. Hasui’s landscape prints are admired for their soothing effects.”
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