Hasui 川瀬巴水: Hataori, Shiobara 塩原畑下り (Printer’s Proof) (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水Title: Hataori, Shiobara 塩原畑下りDate: 1946 A Japanese village is hunkered down against an evening snowstorm. A highly desirable evening snowscape, this work was created without any outline keyblock, a technique that must have challenged the carvers and the artist in new ways, as the artist was certainly involved in print production and color separation. The printing technique is fascinating and complex: Particles of blowing snow are depicted as slashes that streak across the landscape, sometimes showing as grey wisps and sometimes appearing as white streaks against the darker background, a brilliant mix of colors and textures for what is certainly a “white” and clumped substance. Indeed, we perceive the outlines of the homes only indirectly, as perhaps what we would experience if were ourselves caught in a blizzard. Hasui has transported us to a village that was familiar to him, as Shiobara was one of Hasui’s favorite places, and he went  there to to live to esca