Technique: nishikie, Color woodblock print, Shin Hanga
Signed Hasui, red seal of the artist “Kawase".
Format: oban image size: 365 × 240 mm. and sheet size: 405x270 mm.
Publisher: Doi Hangaten
Printer and engraver: Harada, Yokoi.
A splendid work with excellent colors. Printed on Japanese paper after 1956, as per the engraver's and printer's stamps. In perfect condition, with excellent margins all around. Superbly executed " bokashi " shading throughout.
Like other woodblock masters, Kawase Hasui also excelled at night scenes. In this image, he precisely captures the moment when the full moon and the sea, sparkling with reflections, illuminate the spring night.
In the right margin appears the title Spring Moon (Ninomiya Beach) (春ノ月（二宮海岸） ) along with the month and year of the first edition: made in March of the seventh year of the Showa era (1932) (昭和七年三月作).
Bibliography: Hotei, Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The complete woodblock prints , 2003., n. 273, p.428.
Kendall H. Brown, Visions Of Japan: Kawase Hasui's Masterpieces , Hotei, 2004, n.29.
Art Institute of Chicago: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/21918/spring-moon-ninomiya-beach-haru-no-tsuki-ninomiya-kaigan
Museum of Fine Art Boston: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/252303
Biography
Kawase Hasui was one of the most celebrated Japanese artists of the shin-hanga ("new print") movement, which flourished in the early decades of the 20th century. This movement aimed to renew the ukiyo-e printmaking tradition by combining classical techniques with modern sensibilities and Western influences.
Born in Tokyo in 1883, Hasui initially studied traditional Japanese painting ( Nihonga ) under Kaburagi Kiyokata, who later encouraged him to devote himself to printmaking. In 1918, he began collaborating with the renowned publisher Shōzaburō Watanabe , a pioneer of the shin-hanga movement. This collaboration was decisive: under Watanabe's direction, Hasui created hundreds of prints that became renowned for their extraordinary atmosphere and technical sophistication.
Themes and style
Hasui is best known for his poetic landscapes. His prints depict Japanese temples, gardens, cities, and countryside, often bathed in twilight, rain, or snow. His masterful use of light and shadow and a melancholic sensibility distinguish his work.
While drawing inspiration from ukiyo-e masters such as Hiroshige, Hasui introduces Western elements, such as linear perspective and a more accentuated realism in his landscapes.
Awards
In 1956, a year before his death, Kawase Hasui was designated a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government, a recognition given to artists considered fundamental to the preservation of Japan's traditional arts.
His works are now held in major museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Hasui's prints continue to influence artists and fascinate collectors for their ability to evoke a nostalgic and timeless Japan.