Artist: Kawase Hasui
Medium: Original Limited Edition Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: Snow
Edition: First State - Paper Label #/100
Date: 1929
Publisher: Kawaguchi/Sakai
Reference No.: Hotei #183
Size: 15 -1/2 x 8 -1/2 "
Condition: Very fine
Notes:
An important first state (paper label) limited-edition Hasui snow scene. Publisher's paper label on reverse, #49/100. "Made in Japan", stamped on the reverse. Carver: Maeda. Printer: Komatsu. Provenance: From the private collection of the Robert O. Muller Estate. The first state impression is highly prized by collectors due to it's precise qualities and vibrant coloration of the ink gradients.
In addition to working with a number of publishers throughout his career Hasui also collaborated with many printers and carvers, whose skills were indispensable to the printmaking process and to the successful completion of a print. In particular, Hasui is known to have a close working relationship with one of Watanabe's printers, Ono Gintaro, who principally oversaw the printing of the artist's works. However, with the sixteen prints that Hasui produced under the joint publication Kawaguchi and Sakai, the artist worked with the carver Maeda Kantaro and the printer Komatsu Wasakichi.