Kawase Hasui Boxed Notecards

Twenty assorted 5 x 7 in. blank notecards (5 each of 4 designs) with envelopes in a decorative box.

Contains five each of the following notecards:
Spring Night at Inokashira, 1931
Morning at Mitohama, 1952
Iris Garden at Meiji Shrine, Tokyo, 1951
Autumn at Saruiwa, Shiobara, 1949

The revival of fine-art printing in early-twentieth-century Japan—a movement known as shin hanga—coincided with the dynamic growth of an export economy, largely focused on the United States. More Americans bought these prints, which were made with the foreign market in mind, than did Japanese.

Among the leading printmakers of the day was Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883–1957), whose specialty was exquisitely rendered landscape scenes. Often on the road in search of inspiration, Hasui brought his watercolor sketches to the printing studio of the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, where they were transformed into woodblock prints by a skillful team. The precision of the artist’s renderings is matched only by their poetic repose.