Pine Tree After Snow

One of several catalogued impressions of this design, this print depicts a pine tree — most likely a Japanese black pine or red pine — whose horizontal branches hold accumulated snow. Snow-laden pine compositions carry an established iconographic weight in Japanese painting and printmaking, invoking perseverance and the qualities of the Four Gentlemen. Hasui distinguishes his treatment through close observation of the weight distribution of wet snow on branch architecture and the contrast between the dark bark and brilliant white load. Gofun or lead white applied with careful gradation renders the rounded accumulation on individual branch clusters. This late impression — designated by the suffix in the slug — may show changes in the key block's fine needle rendering relative to earlier states.