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KAWASE HASUI (1883-1957) Showa era (1926-1989), dated 1927 image 1
KAWASE HASUI (1883-1957) Showa era (1926-1989), dated 1927 image 2
Lot 509

KAWASE HASUI (1883-1957)
Showa era (1926-1989), dated 1927

A Private Collection of Japanese Prints and Watercolors
18 September 2024, 10:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$28,160 inc. premium

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KAWASE HASUI (1883-1957)

Showa era (1926-1989), dated 1927
A watercolor on paper titled Ōsaka, Dōjima no yoru (Evening at Dōjima, Ōsaka), depicting the tower and waterfront in the evening, signed in ink Hasui, sealed Sui, and dated 12.5.27
14 3/8 x 10 3/8in (36.5 x 26.3cm)

Footnotes

This rare group of nine outstanding watercolors from the brush of Kawase Hasui throws new light on the achievement of one of twentieth-century Japan's most successful and admired designers of woodblock prints. The Shin hanga ("New Print") movement, spearheaded by Watanabe Shōzaburō, aspired to revive the collaborative approach to production that had prevailed during the Edo period (1615-1868): the so-called "Ukiyoe Quartet" of designer, publisher, block carver, and printer. Hasui was never more satisfied than when the latter two of these four successfully interpreted his original design, but comparison between his highly finished watercolors and their printed versions, as with six of those offered here, demonstrates the creative liberties that Watanabe (who published most of Hasui's prints) and his team could take. The large watercolor of the Tonashimon Gate at Matsuyama Castle (lot 517) is a particularly interesting example, even though in this case the painting dates from nearly 20 years after the original version of the print, which also had a different title (Matsuyamajō meigetsu, Matsuyama Castle by Moonlight), and a slightly different design, with two figures standing under the gate and other minor variants. Aside from these obvious differences, the watercolor has a delicacy and modulation of color, particularly in the flowering cherry tree and the night sky, that is missing from the printed version, which also makes no attempt to reproduce the subtle shadows cast by the gate on the stone pathway.
The other five watercolors here of which woodblock versions are known (lots 511, 512, 513, 515, and 517 are presumed to have been executed before the first edition of the corresponding print, whether or not the surviving watercolor was the actual one used during the production process. In the ferry boat scene at Ushibori (lot 510), for example, the boat and its occupants are much larger, the palette is more naturalistically evocative of twilight, and an additional figure waiting on the shore adds a compelling narrative element. Much as we admire the landscape prints of Hasui and his contemporaries—currently the object of intense curatorial and collecting interest—these watercolors offer a rare opportunity to appreciate their broader achievement.

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OKAMOTO RYŌZAN FOR THE YASUDA COMPANY A Small Ceramic Vase and Cover Meiji era (1868-1912), circa 1900
A GROUP OF FOUR JAPANESE BRONZES Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th century,
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A POLYCHROME WOOD CARVING OF RANRYO-O, THE PRINCE OF LANLING Japan, 19th century
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