Kawase Hasui

A prolific printmaker associated with Japan’s Shin-hanga (“new prints”) movement, Kawase Hasui is renowned for his exquisite landscapes that depict his native country. His acclaimed and highly sought-after series “Snow at Zojoji Temple” was designated an Intangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government in 1953. Such early works are especially rare, as many of Hasui’s woodblocks and artworks were destroyed in the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923. Trained in Western-style landscapes at the painting society Hakuba-kai as well as in the Nihonga style, Hasui made woodblock prints showing a distinct cultural hybridity and capturing an impressive sensitivity to natural lighting and shadows as well as the intricacies of rain, mist, and snow. One year before he died, the Japanese government recognized him as a Living National Treasure for his contributions to Japanese culture. In addition to prints, Hasui produced watercolors, hanging scrolls, and oil paintings.