Hasui 巴水: The Shinagawa Offing 品川沖 (SOLD)

Artist: Kawase Hasui  川瀬 巴水 (1883-1957)
Title: The Shinagawa Offing (Shinagawa oki)  品川沖
Date: Summer 1920

A small vessel with a filled white sail glides left, crossing behind a marker at the end of a pier which stretches to the right. The artificial islands of Odaiba may be seen in the distance. Hasui wrote: “I made this sketch while on an outing to the Shinagawa coast on a netting boat... I was interested in a sailboat traveling between the green grassy field of Odaiba fort...It is a slightly overcast midsummer’s afternoon.” Note the unusual, jigsaw-like clouds and the smooth, glassy sea. One may still see (and even take a walk on) the man-made forts of Odaiba, which the Japanese constructed as a response to the Black Ships of Commander Perry appearing in their harbor in the 1850s.  A scarce, pre-earthquake design with perfect, unfaded color.

Series: Twelve Scenes of Tokyo (Tokyo junidai) 東京十二題

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. 
Dimensions:  ôban 26.3 x 38.8 cm
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
Literature: Narazaki #32; Brown/Hotei #32. VMFA, Water and Shadow (2014), #IV.32. See the Art Institute of Chicago, the MFA Boston, the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.

Seal: Sui
Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAC032C