Arasiyama, Kyoto (June, from the Calendar for the Pacific Transport Lines, 1953)

 

Kawase Hasui

  1883 - 1957 (biography)

1952  

color woodcut 

9 9/16 x 14 3/8" image size 

"Hasui" signature with "Kawase" red seal, lower right; signed with printed signature in Roman script in lower margin. 

500 

titled in Roman script in lower left margin. 

Hotei 581, illustrated on page 585. 

ivory laid Japanese 

published 

Pacific Transport Lines 

JELI106 

SOLD

This image is used to illustrate the month of June in this series for the calendar. This work has not been reprinted after the initial edition of 500.

The Hotei/Hasui catalogue raisonne notes: "The Togetsu (Moon Crossing) bridge is a much visited site in Arashiyama, Kyoto. It spans the Hozu River and has existed since the Heian period (794-1185)."

Also from the Hotei/Hasui catalogue raisonné, page 131:

"Narazaki explains that 500 examples of this calendar were commissioned by the Pacific transport lines for distribution in the United States and that it was created within the time-honored tradition of meisho-e (pictures of famous views). He adds that while Hasui did not ordinarily undertake this type of work, the artist seems to have become quite engrossed in this project in an effort to convey a sense of the quintessential Japanese landscape." and "Both the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo and Hasui attached importance to the fact that these compositions were intended as souvenirs for foreigners."

The title and the artist's signature are printed in English in the margin. This impression is still attached at the top to the original card from the calendar.