Hasui: Clearing After a Snowfall at the Asakusa Kannon Temple (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui 川瀬 巴水
Title: Clearing After a Snowfall at the Asakusa Kannon Temple 東京二十景 淺草観音の雪晴 
Series: Twenty Views of Tokyo
Date: 1926

Asakusa Kannon no yukibare. Visitors enjoy an unusually quiet moment in the normally bustling Asakusa Temple grounds. The blue sky has cleared, and we can almost hear the geta crunching in the snow of the two kimono-clad beauties in the foreground. There is pink at the bottom left of the sky, so perhaps it is late afternoon rather than sunrise, as the temple doors are open. The late afternoon shadow of a tree stretches out across the ground, although the tree is not visible at left. Hasui knew how to capture not only the place, but the time of day and the exact conditions of the weather, which is why his designs feel so personal. This temple was destroyed in WWII, but was rebuilt in 1958. Stylish design in mint condition. With an early Watanabe seal that was used beginning in 1930.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: ôban (38.5 x 26.3 cm)
Publisher: Watanabe ShôzaburIo
Literature: Hotei #151; Narazaki #151. Shimada City Museum, Kawase Hasui, The landscape woodblock prints of the Taisho and Showa periods, 2005, p. 95, no. 61. Carolyn M. Putney, Fresh Impression: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Toledo, 2013, p. 143, cat. no. 89. See Smithsonian, AIC online.
Seal: Kawase
Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAC151H