KAWASE HASUI: ZOJOJI TEMPLE, SHIBA

拍品描述

KAWASE HASUI: ZOJOJI TEMPLE, SHIBA By Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), signed Hasui with seal Kawase Japan, dated 1925 Color woodblock print on paper. Vertical oban. Signed Hasui with seal Kawase; publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, the publisher’s seal located to the right within the red building (rare!). Title Shiba Zojoji (Zojoji Temple, Shiba), from the series Tokyo nijukkei (Twenty views of Tokyo). Depicting the vermilion gate of the Zojo-ji Temple in Shiba, Tokyo. A woman walks against the gale of a blizzard, her umbrella partially closed in the snowstorm. She passes by the main gate of the Sangedatsumon, the oldest wooden building in Tokyo, constructed circa 1622. SIZE of the sheet 38.5 x 26.3 cm Shiba Zojoji is Hasui's most popular print, and it showcases the artist's skill in capturing the beauty and tranquility of landscapes. Hasui frequently uses the solitary figure motif in his artwork, which symbolizes the individual's connection to nature and the landscape. This print is one of a series of twenty in which he depicted Tokyo landscapes after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. These works thus date from the period in which Tokyo, based on its post-quake recovery plan, was becoming a modern city. The figure of the woman walking in the snowstorm, however, is in the tradition of the “beauty in the snow” image, one of the favored renderings of beautiful women in the Edo period. With the vivid color contrast between the white snow, the red gate and the large tree seeming to jut out in the foreground, the composition calls to mind the world of Utagawa Hiroshige. Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) was a prominent Japanese artist and printmaker of the shin-hanga ("new prints") movement, which focused on traditional techniques and subject matter. He is best known for his landscape prints depicting scenes of Japan, which were highly detailed and often captured the beauty and tranquility of the country's natural landscapes. Hasui's works were characterized by their delicate colors and sophisticated composition, and his legacy as a master of shin-hanga continues to influence Japanese art and culture today. Auction comparison: Compare a closely related print, the Watanabe seal also stamped within the image like in the present lot, at Sotheby’s, Japanese Woodblock Prints, 18 July 2024, London, lot 41 (sold for GBP 45,600 or approx. EUR 55,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).

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