Nara Park (October, 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 left; signed with printed signature in Roman script in lower margin. 

500 

titled in Roman script in lower left margin. 

Hotei 585, illustrated on page 586. 

ivory laid Japanese 

published 

Pacific Transport Lines 

JELI110 

SOLD

This image is used to illustrate the month of October in this series for the calendar. Nara is a city located in the Kansai region. Nara Park is a public park located in the city of Nara, Japan, at the foot of Mount Wakakusa, established in 1300s and one of the oldest parks in Japan. It is famous for its sacred Sika deer. This work has not been reprinted after the initial edition of 500.

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.