Hasui Kawase was a Japanese artist. He was one of the most prominent print designers of the shin-hanga ("new prints") movement.
Background
Hasui Kawase was born on March 18, 1883, in Tokyo, Japan. He was the son of silkbraid merchant. From youth Hasui dreamed of an art career, but his parents had him take on the family rope and thread wholesaling business. Its bankruptcy when he was 26 freed him to pursue art.
Education
Hasui approached Kiyokata Kaburagi to teach him, but Kaburagi instead encouraged him to study Western-style painting, which he did with Okada Saburōsuke for two years. Two years later he again applied as a student to Kaburagi, who this time accepted him.
Career
Hasui's talent was clear, exhibiting in the Tatsumi Exhibition of Painting at age 19. However, soon after seeing Shinsui’s series Eight Views of Lake Biwa, Hasui turned his attention to woodblock printing in 1919.
Watanabe was the first to recognize his artistic genius, and Hasui Kawase soon became the most popular artist working for this prestigious publisher. Hasui traveled widely in Japan and his subjects are most frequently landscape themes. The prints are based upon small, quick sketches and watercolors taken from nature. Unfortunately, during the earthquake of 1923, all of his woodblocks and over 200 sketches were destroyed. The works that predate this event are extremely scarce and in great demand today.
Undaunted, Hasui continued to produce his landscape prints. In 1956, the Japanese government’s Committee for the Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage designated Zojo Temple in Snow and the documentation of its production as Intangible Cultural Treasures, the greatest artistic honor in postwar Japan. All of his prints are signed “Hasui” with a variety of red seals reading “sui.” Though Watanabe published the majority of Hasui’s prints, Doi, Kawaguchi, Sakai and others published some as well.