Contemporary Giclée Repro Print Kawase Hasui Clearing After Snow Yoshida Fuji 10"W

Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水, 1883–1957) — Clearing After Snow in Yoshida (吉田内雪後, Yoshida-nai Setsugo) — archival giclee reproduction

Contemporary reproduction after original woodblock print, designed 1940. Reduced from original size.

Mt. Fuji looms close in this clear winter scene, the village houses in the foreground seeming to mimic the shape of the mountain behind them — a compositional harmony between mountain and settlement that is one of the most satisfying in Hasui's Fuji repertoire. Thatched farmhouses heavy with snow fill the middle ground; two bundled figures make their way through a lane between buildings; bare-branched trees and bare garden trellises occupy the right foreground. The sky graduates from pale rose-gold at the horizon through clear blue above — the aftermath of snowfall rendered with Hasui's signature sensitivity to atmospheric light. 

The original design is dated 昭和十五年 (Shōwa jūgo-nen — 1940) in the left margin, with the artist's signature and red Kawase seal. Yoshida (Yoshida-juku) was a historic post-town on the Tōkaidō road at the foot of Mt. Fuji in present-day Fujiyoshida, Shizuoka — a traditional vantage point for artists depicting the mountain since the Edo period.

A prolific artist, Hasui created about six hundred woodblock print designs during his long career, the majority of them for publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō. In the face of rapid modernization during the twentieth century, Hasui's prints evoke a sense of nostalgia for old Japan and a respect for traditional culture, emphasizing the beauty of the natural landscape with figures that are absent or small and insignificant in comparison. In 1956 Kawase Hasui was named a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government — the first printmaker to receive this honor. He died the following year at the age of 74. 

This reproduction is locally and professionally printed on acid-free archival fine-art paper using highly fade-resistant pigmented inks.

• Title: 吉田内雪後 (Yoshida-nai Setsugo — Clearing After Snow in Yoshida)
• Artist: Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水, 1883–1957)
• Original date: Shōwa 15 (1940); publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō
• Medium: Archival giclée reproduction on acid-free fine-art paper, pigmented inks
• Dimensions: 10" W × 7" H (25 × 18 cm)

Condition: New.