Hasui: Snow in Funabori 船堀の雪 (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui
Title: Snow in Funabori 船堀の雪
Date: 1932

A boatman steers his small wooden craft along a river amidst falling snow, in a scene that could be from an earlier century. A lone yellow light burns in the window and is reflected in the water, a touch that Hasui was fond of depicting. Although first published by Doi Sadaichi in 1932,  this example was published by Iida Kunitaro in the late 1930s. Kunitaro also published the tanzaku print Dusk at Itako,  which is also a print originally published by Doi in 1932.  Evidence points to Doi briefly consigning publication of a few prints to Iida Kunitaro around 1937, when Doi Sadaichi was in difficulty, where the production was supervised by the carver and printer Hirai Koichi and the printing was done by Sakakura Seijiro. The names of both are written at the seal at left. Kunitaro also published a number of Koitsu designs in the 1930s. This is definitely a prewar edition, as editions done after the war contain the postwar Doi seals. There are contemporary examples also of this design created with new blocks, but these are easy to distinguish from original editions.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Some stains and tape remnants, verso.
Dimensions: tanzaku (38.6 x 19 cm)
Publisher: Iida Kunitaro

Sealed: The publisher's seal reads Hanken shoyu Iida Kunitaro followed by Seisaku Shunin Hirai (Production chief: Hirai) and Suri Sakakura (Printer: Sakakura), the title on the right margin, Funabori no yuki, followed by the date, Showa shichinen ichigatsu saku (work of Showa 7 [1932], 1st month).

Literature: Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The complete woodblock prints, 2003, no. 268. Ross Walker and Doi Toshikazu, The Catalogue Raisonne of Tsuchiya Koitsu: Meiji to Shin Hanga, Watercolours to Woodblocks, 2008, p. 259-260, 295 (re: Doi and Iida Kunitaro). See MFA, AIC.
Seal: Hasui

SKU: HAS563