Higashi- Hirakata
Artist: Kawase Hasui
Name: Higashi- Hirakata
Date: 1945
Description: Monday, 10 July 2006 This is a lovely and scarce woodblock print by the master Japanese artist Hasui Kawase. I have not been able to find this particular image in any of the resources I have on Hasui and Shin-hanga, so I’m going to have to just tell you what I can from the print itself. It just came out of an old San Francisco estate, along with a very rare print by the American-Japanese artist Lilian Miller (please see our other auctions). The print depicts sunrise over buildings at the water’s edge (probably fishing shacks), and a solitary figure engaged in work. A beautiful scene. It’s a standard oban size, with an image area of 13-5/8″ by 9-5/8″. It bears Hasui’s “gingko” seal in the lower-left corner of the image area, and a black, 6mm Watanabe seal in the lower-right. I would tentatively date it to about 1945-1950. I’ve photographed it with flash and without, to give the most accurate representation possible. The margins are fully intact, and the sheet has no creases, tears or other damage to the paper. There are, however, some issues I must mention. First, at some point, the corners were glued to a card sheet. It was carefully removed, but some glue residue and paper from the card remain at the corners. This could largely or completely be ameliorated by conservation. Also, there is some faint but even toning to the image area that was inside the matted area. Again, it could be conserved, if one wanted, although it is very faint.
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