Hasui 巴水: Blue Version of Evening Snow, Edo River (Published First Edition) (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水 Title: Evening Snow, Edo River 暮るゝ雪（江戸川） Date: 1932, February Fururu yuki (Edogawa). Two beauties cross a wooden bridge spanning the Edo River. This is the blue version of this design, done in the spirit of Hiroshige’s “aizuri-e”, or pictures printed entirely in blue. The blocks used were the same as with the full-color version, so it was up to the unparalleled skill of the printer to create depth using expertly applied variation in the saturation of the applied pigment. This seal is the same Doi Sadaichi seal shown in the Hotei catalogue raisonne and is from the first edition. This seal was used prior to World War II, when the publisher’s name changed to Doi Hangaten and the seals appied to prints reflected this name change.  This exact print is illustrated on page 91 of Hisao Shimizu’s “Works of Kawase Hasui”, published in 2013 by Tokyo Bijutsu. Provenance: The collection of the late Hasui scholar Hisao Shimizu. This is one of the works featured in this deal