Untitled
by Kawase Hasui
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Watanabe Print
- Image courtesy of
- Watanabe Print
Description
A [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) landscape print by Kawase Hasui likely portraying rain falling across a Japanese road, bridge, or temple precinct. Hasui was particularly skilled at rendering precipitation: diagonal lines of driving rain cut across the composition, while wet surfaces — stone pavements, wooden bridges, umbrella fabrics — reflect ambient light in pale streaks. A lone figure or pair of travelers beneath oiled-paper umbrellas often provides human scale in such compositions. Watanabe's workshop applied careful registration across multiple woodblocks to achieve the translucent quality of falling rain against a darkened sky or forested hillside. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations in the sky and distance reinforce the atmospheric weight of the scene. Hasui produced many rain subjects, drawing on Hiroshige's famous rain depictions in the Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō while bringing to them a quieter, more observational sensibility suited to the shin-hanga aesthetic.

![[abstract composition with diagonal woodgrain] by Gen Yamaguchi](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/135949.jpg)