Kawase Hasui (1883–1957) was the most significant Japanese woodblock artist of the 20th century, designing around six hundred print compositions over the course of his career. Hasui’s print designs display nostalgia for traditional Japanese culture and scenery in the midst of the country’s rapid modernization.
He began creating landscape compositions for the print publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō in 1918, and together the pair embarked on an artistic partnership that would span more than 40 years. In the making of shin-hanga (new prints), which was a collaboration of artist, block carver, printer, and publisher, this partnership between Hasui and Watanabe culminated in picturesque representations of Japanese landscapes that were successfully circulated locally and abroad.
This exhibition features Hasui’s preliminary watercolor compositions, along with the resulting woodblock prints published by Watanabe. They are among the hundreds of Hasui works that patrons René and Carolyn Balcer generously donated to VMFA beginning in 2006.
The exhibition was curated by Madeleine Dugan, Curatorial Assistant, under the supervision of Li Jian, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of East Asian Art.
TOP OF PAGE Ura Heights (detail), 1950, Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883–1957), woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, René and Carolyn Balcer Collection, 2006.525
DIRECTLY ABOVE (Hasui’s watercolor study for the woodblock print pictured at the top of the page) Ura Heights, 1950, Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883–1957), watercolor; ink and color on paper. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, René and Carolyn Balcer Collection, 2017.594