Hasui 巴水: Evening Shower, Teradomari 寺泊の夜雨 (SOLD)

Artist: Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水 (1883-1957)
Title: Night Rain, Teradomari 寺泊の夜雨
Series: Souvenirs of Travels, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishû) 旅みやげ第二集
Date: 27 August, 1921 大正十年

A man in a straw raincoat echoes Hiroshige as he tilts his hat against the direction of the deluge and navigates his way across the puddles filling a deserted street during a downpour. Hasui was a master of depicting with specificity every type of weather, especially snow and the even trickier rain. Here it falls in long, straight lines, very reminiscent of the famous Hiroshige design of Ohashi Bridge from 100 Famous Views of Edo. We see a soft horizon line floating in the distance, and the grey-blue color of the sky is very subtly different than the color of the water, which is more blue.  The rain comes down in arrow-straight diagonal lines, clusters of parallel lines in hues of grey and black. As in most Hasui evening scenes, lights beckon a welcoming yellow from several windows, indicating the cozy atmosphere that awaits the traveler once out of the storm. The traditional yellow straw raincoat and hat are a lovely touch, also echoing Hiroshige and the garb of earlier centuries.  Hasui was also extremely good at depicting a specific time and place; here we see no sign of modern intrusions, even 20th century ones, so we could be looking at a scene from any number of centuries in the past. This small town of Teradomari does not really even exist anymore, at least in name: it was merged recently into the expanded city of Nagaoka, in Niigata Prefecture. A scarce, pre-earthquake design.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Mint.
Dimensions: ôban (38.5 x 26 cm)
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
Literature: See the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts museum collections. Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, p. 36, no. 72. Kendall Brown, Kawase Hasui: The complete woodblock prints, 2003, p. 315, no. 72. Hasui Kawase, Kawase Hasui Woodblock Prints, Abe Shuppan, Tokyo, 2009, p. 23, no. 21. Kendall Brown, Water and Shadow: Kawase Hasui and Japanese Landscape Prints, 2014, p. 128, no. IV.71.
Seal: Kawase  Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAC072W