Hasui 巴水: Kasuga Shrine, Nara 奈良春日神社 (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水 (1883-1957)
Title: Kasuga Shrine, Nara 旅みやげ第二集　奈良春日神社
Series: Souvenirs of Travels, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishû) 旅みやげ第二集
Date: 12 February, 1921

Rather than showing his usual one or two human figures, Hasui has chosen to depict two of Nara’s famous deer, who are quite at home in Kasuga Shrine. This shrine is famous for its stone lanterns and vermilion-lacquered shrine building, and of course its deer; Hasui has shown all three at once.  It is considered one of Japan’s three great Shinto shrines. Here one deer is shown with its antlers intact; in today’s Nara, the deer’s antlers are trimmed for safety.  The green bokashi in the foreground and the subtle colorations of the sky make this unfaded work a scene that we feel we could step right into. A scarce, pre-earthquake design.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. 
Dimensions: ôban (39 x 26.2 cm)
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
Literature: See the Art Institute of Chicago, MFA, FAMSF, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts museum collections. Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, no. 53. Kendall Brown, Kawase Hasui: The complete woodblock prints, 2003, number 53. Kendall Brown, Water and Shadow: Kawase Hasui and Japanese Landscape Prints, 2014, plate IV.52.
Seal: Sui
Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAC853K