Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) | Zojoji Temple, Shiba (Shiba Zojoji) | Taisho period, early 20th century
Auction Closed
June 11, 03:42 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
woodblock print, from the series Twenty Views of Tokyo (Tokyo nijukei), signed Hasui, sealed Kawase, publisher's mark (Hotei 'D', circa 1929-42) to the lower right margin Hanken shoyu Watanabe Shozaburo [copyright reserved, Watanabe Shozaburo], dated Taisho juyonen saku (made in 1925)
Vertical oban: 39.1 x 26.2 cm., 12⅞ by 8⅝ in.
One of Hasui's most celebrated designs, depicting a woman making her way through a heavy blizzard before the vermilion Sangedatsumon [lit. Gate of the Three Liberations], the great gate of the Zojo-ji Temple in Shiba, central Tokyo. Her umbrella is semi-collapsed against the force of the gale, while an overhanging pine in the foreground bows under the weight of accumulated snow. The Sangedatsumon, constructed circa 1622, is one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in Tokyo.
The print scholar Narazaki Muneshige (1904-2001) considered it a touchstone of Hasui's career, writing that it is ‘a masterpiece within Hasui's oeuvre, and no other by him has received so much praise.’¹
Further impressions of the same print are in numerous museum collections, including:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (The MET), accession number 1997.255, go to:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39587
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number 49.124:
The Edo Tokyo Museum, object number 90203125:
https://museumcollection.tokyo/en/works/6239688/
1. Translated and quoted in Kendall Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints (The Netherlands, 2003), p. 74, no. 147.