Hasui 巴水: Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto 京都清水寺 (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui 川瀬 巴水 (1883-1957)
Title: Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto 京都清水寺
Series: Collection of Scenic Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition 日本風景集II
Date: November 1933

A lone visitor to Kyoto’s Kiyomizudera has the famed pavilion to himself as he views the lights of the city in the distance. So much of this composition is the empty expanse of the verandah, such that it emphasizes the solitary feeling that the viewer can’t help but share with the lone visitor. Capturing the uncanny light of an unseen moon is also a testament to the expertise of the prewar printmakers. Narazaki wrote “The Kiyomizu Temple is not uncommon in Hasui’s work. The artist liked the composition that showed the city of Kyoto from the verandah of the temple, and here it imports the quality of a moonlit night.” This scene indeed feels timeless. With the Watanabe seal that was used between 1932 and 1941.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Some backing remnants, verso.
Dimensions: ôban
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
Literature: Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 452, no. 324. Kendall H. Brown, Visions of Japan: Kawase Hasui's Masterpieces, 2008, p. 90, no. 54. Kawase Hasui Woodblock Prints, Abe Publishing, 2009, p. 132, no. 211. Amanda T. Zehnder, Modern Japanese Prints: The Twentieth Century, Carnegie Museum of Art, 2009, p. 82. See MFA, AIC museum collections online.
Seal: Kawase
Signature: Hasui 

SKU: HAS549