The Washington Monument on the Potomac River
Artist: Kawase Hasui
Name: The Washington Monument on the Potomac River
Date: 1935
Source: Honolulu Museum of Art
Description: In 1912, Tokyo Mayor Ozaki Yukio donated cherry trees to the city of Washington D.C. in honor of the friendship between Japan and the United States. Since 1935, the cherry blossom festival has been held yearly in late March (suspended only during World War II) on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park. It is believed that Hasui usually traveled to and sketched the scenes he used in his printmaking. However, it is unknown whether Hasui actually visited Washington D.C. to sketch this particular scene. Through Watanabe, Hasui and other shin hanga artists had a significant market for their prints in the United States, and this subject, one of the most distinctive in Hasui’s oeuvre, might have been intended to take advantage of the interest in Japanese culture among U.S. collectors inspired by the cherry blossom festival, which remains popular today. (“Picturesque Prints: Traditional Japanese Woodblock Art in the 20th Century” 05/27/2010 – 08/1/2010)
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