Done
London, England, United Kingdom
Auction Details
Tradition Travel Transition
The fascination for Japan as a travel destination speaks to many. Before the world is ready again for tourism, Bonhams has gathered a collection of Japanese prints capturing the most scenic, albeit unfrequented and secluded, sides of Japan in the 20th century. This collection of Shin Hanga (New Print) by Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) spans more than 30 lots, and will be presented in Bonhams London sale of Tradition Travel and Transition: Japanese Art across the Centuries on 4 November 2021.
Kawase Hasui, a towering figure in Japan's Shin Hanga tradition, is well known for his love of travel, a pastime which meant much more than mere tourism for him. As Hasui himself once wrote: '... travelling is my favourite hobby... and this hobby is not just something that I casually speak of, since sketching is my goal...'
He was particular about where he would open his sketchbook, depicting famous spots but rarely choosing the most obvious or famous angles. Lot 350 (Evening in Beppu), for example, depicts the onsen (hot spring) resort of Beppu, as popular in 1929 as it is today, but seen through a tangle of bare, wintry branches.
The majority of his prints in this sale come from private collections. Some bear one of the earliest copyright seals of his long-term publisher, Watanabe Shozaburo, while a few are designs even earlier and rarer, dating from before the great earthquake that devastated Tokyo and Yokohama in 1923. Most major museum collections of Hasui's prints are in the United States, where his work first gained an international following in the 1920s—it is rumoured that the late Steve Jobs was also an avid collector.
Lot Number: Lowest
24
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24
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