日本木版畫家Hasui Kawase的畫作(觸動人心的細膩)

李常生整理 2022/11/12

Hasui Kawase (川瀬巴水, Kawase Hasui, May 18, 1883 – November 7, 1957) was an artist, one of modern Japan’s most important and prolific printmakers. He was a prominent designer of the shin-hanga (“new prints”) movement, whose artists depicted traditional subjects with a style influenced by Western art. Like many earlier ukiyo-e prints, Hasui’s works were commonly landscapes, but displayed atmospheric effects and natural lighting.

Hasui designed approximately 620 prints over a career that spanned nearly forty years. Towards the end of his life the government recognized him as a Living National Treasure for his contribution to Japanese culture.

Kawase worked almost exclusively on landscape and townscape prints based on sketches and watercolors he made in Tokyo and during travels around Japan. However, his prints are not merely meishō (famous places) prints that are typical of earlier ukiyo-e masters such as Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Kawase’s prints feature locales that are tranquil and obscure in urbanizing Japan.

In 1920 Hasui designed his first falling snow print. His snow scenes are among the most original and best of his works. He later recalled “In my earlier works there are novel expressions in carving line and forms: the artisans used to complain.” He said of the relationship between designer and printer:

「In the case of printing we must interact very closely. A less experienced printer might waste seven or eight trial prints before a successful one is made. If someone is experienced we can decide on the final print after two or three trials. It occurs occasionally that despite best efforts, a successful print is still not produced. This is the hard part of composite art. It requires telepathic communication. Unless all parties are completely in tune, the process will not work. When my mind and the minds of the artisans are in complete agreement, a good work can be generated.」

Hasui considered himself a realist and employed his training in Western painting in his compositions. Like Hiroshige he made travel and landscape prints, though his subjects were less known locations rendered with naturalistic light, shade, and texture, without the captions and titles that were standard in prints of Hiroshige’s age.

Kawase left a large body of woodblock prints and watercolors: many of the watercolors are linked to the woodblock prints. He also produced oil paintings, traditional hanging scrolls and a few byōbu (folding screens).

Hasui Kawase – The Art of Japan. Fine Japanese Prints. Title: Tennoji – Osaka. Date: 1927. Materials: woodblock print. Dimensions: 15.2 x 20.2 cm. Publisher: Watanabe. Source: https://www.theartofjapan.com/art-detail/?inv=10196353&at=Hasui. I have changed the light and contrast of the original photoAr

Hasui Kawase – private collection. Title: Farm Houses along a Canal in the Rain. Date: 1946. Materials: woodblock print. Dimensions: 38 x 25 cm. Auctioned by Lempertz in Cologne, on June 14, 2014. Source: https://www.lempertz.com/typo3temp/_processed_/csm_Lempertz-1034-1053-Asiatische-Kunst-Kawase-Hasui-1883-1957-_2e2599502d.jpg.

Hasui Kawase – private collection. Title: Mount Fuji from Hara on Tokaido. Date: 1942. Materials: woodblock print. Dimensions: 26.5 x 38.8 cm. Publisher: Watanbe Shozaburo. Sold by Bonhams in New York, on March 20, 2019. Source: https://images2.bonhams.com/image?src=Images/live/2019-02/06/24825871-13-1.jpg. I have changed the light, contrast and colors of the original photo.