Hasui 巴水: Snow at Shiba Park, Tokyo 芝公園の雪 (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui 巴水 (1883-1957)
Title: Snow at Shiba Park, Tokyo  芝公園の雪
Date: 1952

Series: 1953 Calendar for the Pacific Transport Lines

A lone visitor in flowing black robes makes his way towards the snow-covered entrance gate to Shiba Park, which is built around Zojoji Temple in Tokyo. Although there are other footprints on the snowy path, we feel the solitude and pristine beauty of the peaceful scene. Hasui’s mastery at capturing Japan’s vermilion temples blanketed with snow make his works with this subject increasing popular with a worldwide audience. This design was first created in 1931 and published by Watanabe, who must have kept the blocks and decided that the design would be perfect for their calendar project in 1952. This is the January image for the 1953 Calendar for the Pacific Transport Lines, which was intended for export to the United States. Hasui and Watanabe put special effort into this project to create works that were timelessly Japanese. These prints are surprisingly rare, as most of the 500 copies of the calendar were discarded after use. With the title and artist’s name added in English in the bottom margin. Provenance: From the collection of René Balcer.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Clean and unfaded.
Dimensions: ôban (25.8 x 38 cm)
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
Literature: Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The complete woodblock prints, 2003, number 576. See Honolulu Museum of Art website.
Seal: Kawase
Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAC576