Shima Namikiri - Namikiri in Shima (Pref. Mie) - 志摩波切. Original color woodblock print, published 1942 (later edition before 1989). Signed: Hasui. Seal: Kawase. Publisher: Watanabe.
Famous for his exquisite landscape pictures, Hasui (1883 - 1957) belongs to the most prominent and talented artists of Shinhanga, the new art of woodblock print in Japan after the downfall of the fleeting and floating world of Ukiyo-e. Over 600 designs come from his hand, primarily made public by the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, mental initiator and economic motor of this new art movement. No other artist could “paint“ his woodblocks like Hasui. In an ingenious manner, he incorporated the influences of Western painting with light-dark contrasts going back to his big role model Hiroshige, his spatial arrangements, thereby achieving his very own authentic, deeply Japanese handwriting. In observation of the sheets one senses a breath of inner warmth for the magnificent Japanese landscape, feels tranquil poetry and idyllic nature connection of the great artist with his homeland.
OBAN, 38,8 x 26,3 CM
From a Viennese private collection