KAWASE HASUI:Travel and nostalgic landscape

　
　Hasui Kawase was a prolific woodblock print artist who thrived from the Taisho to Showa eras. This was during the period of modernization when townscapes and landscapes were rapidly changing. Hasui traveled all over Japan seeking unspoiled landscapes, which he developed into artworks depicting ordinary people’s lives and seasonal sceneries. Among the collaborators of Hasui was his publisher Shozaburo Watanabe (the founder of the current S.WATANABE Woodcut Prints), who was an advocate of the "Shin-hanga" movement that promoted the revitalization of woodblock prints for the new era. Other collaborators included craftsmen, namely a woodblock carver and a printer. These four worked together to find a way to apply more advanced techniques while preserving traditional woodblock printing techniques. Their continuous ventures into new color palettes and expression methods made them popular as the leading figures of the "Shin-hanga" movement.

　This exhibition introduces the artistic life of Hasui Kawase, who was also called as a "poet with the spirit of a traveler" for his rich expression of seasons, weather, and the passage of time, through his representative works from early to late career. About 180 works will be exhibited, including a series of prints that are rarely shown together, inviting the viewers into the lyrical world of Hasui.