Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) is considered the foremost Japanese landscape print artist of the 20th century. His work is characterized by a fascination with light, climatic conditions and tranquility. His oeuvre consists of over 700 designs of which the largest proportion was produced for the initiator of the Shin hanga ('new print') movement, Watanabe Shôzaburô. This publication illustrates his oeuvre in color including all the designs he produced for other publishers. The illustrations are predominantly taken from the two largest collections of Hasui prints in the world: the collections of Robert O. Muller, now housed in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art, and the Watanabe family. This bilingual publication includes essays by Kendall Brown and Shôichirô Watanabe, facsimiles of seals and signatures and a bibliography.
Originally published in 2003, this groundbreaking publication on the life and work of Kawase Hasui is now available with a DVD, which includes a 1950s film on the artist and the production of one of his designs, a process book displaying all stages in the creation of a Japanese woodblock print, and designs which have been discovered since 2003.
