Hasui 巴水: Spring at Pubyong Pavilion, Modan Viewpoint, Pyongyang

Artist: Kawase Hasui 巴水 (1883-1957)
Title: Spring at Pubyong Pavilion, Modan Viewpoint, Pyongyang
Series: Eight Views of Korea (Chosen Hakkei)
Date: 1939

Visitors lean over a stone wall, pointing out something of interest that we cannot see in the waters below. A profusion of pink cherry blossoms radiate up from the bottom left.  As this pavilion is part of Pyongyang, which is now North Korea, it is difficult to say how the view might have changed since 1939. Like so many Hasui prints, it is now a time capsule from before industrialization. The size is larger than the usual ôban.

First edition, with the Watanabe seal right margin that was used between 1933 and 1942.  Provenance: From the personal collection of the Hasui collector René Balcer.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Slight soiling on margins and hinging remnants upper verso.
Dimensions: (41.8 x 29.7 cm)
Publisher: Published by Watanabe Shôzaburô for Kansai Bijutsusha
Literature: Narazaki #435; Hotei #437. See Hisao Shimizu’s “Works of Kawase Hasui”, published in 2013 by Tokyo Bijutsu. See LACMA online collection, Art Institute of Chicago.

Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAB437