Moon over Akebi Bridge
Artist: Kawase Hasui
Name: Moon over Akebi Bridge
Date: 1935
Description: Offered for sale is a wonderful, first edition Japanese woodblock print by Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), titled Moon at Akebi Bridge, 1935. This design is illustrated at plate 422 of Kawase Hasui Mokuhangashu (Kawase Hasui Catalogue of Woodblock Prints), Narazaki, Muneshige, ed., (Tokyo: Kodansha & Mainichi Shinbun, 1979). It is part of a series of prints that were privately commissioned by the then current owner of The Mitsubishi Company, and published by Watanable Color Print Co. While this design bears a circular Watanabe seal in the lower right corner of the image, savvy Hasui collectors know that the 1935 Mitsubishi series in an exception to the general rule of determining the state of post-earthquake/pre-war designs by the presence of a publisher’s cartouche in the margin. This print is has wonderfully fresh colors and is in very good condition, with no condition issues to note, aside from some faint residue in top reverse margin from the original presentation folder. The image measures approximately 13 by 8 ? inches, plus margins.