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- the hard part of composite art. It requires telepathic communication. Unless all parties are completely in tune, the process will not work. When my mind and the minds of the artisans are in complete agreement, a good work can be generated.2
Hasui mainly designed prints for Watanabe, but he did design for other publishers, and did make an income from the sale of his original water�colours. His prints before 1923 are extremely rare, as most of his prints and woodblocks were destroyed in the Great Earthquake. Hasui has often been compared to Hiroshige for both loved to depict their extensive travels through Japan and its incredible natural beauty. Up until his death in 1957, Hasui was considered to be one of Japan's greatest living artists.
Hasui had no children and had few students. The most talented of his students was Koitsu Ishiwata (1897-1987). Like Hasui, he made beautiful landscapes depicting all types of weather conditions, all times of day and night, and was very effective at conveying the moods of the changing seasons. Also like Hasui, he dealt with simple scenes taken from everyday life, mainly of common people and farmers, but occasionally he did show the bright lights of the city.
Another shin hanga landscape artist with the same surname was Koitsu Tsuchiya (1870-1949), a student of noted ukiyo-e artist, Kiyochika. He produced delightful landscapes with interesting angles and often placed figures in his depictions. His landscapes were usually tranquil but he some�times did modern day scenes of the city with its skyscrapers and auto�mobiles. He was very successful at fusing elements of the past with the realities of modern Japan. Koitsu was one of the more prolific shin hanga artists of the 1930s, who also worked with Watanabe. He was noted for his technical sophistication and tremendous output.
Another shin hanga landscape artist of note is Shiro Kasamatsu (1898-?), who was also a student of Kiyokata and published prints with Watanabe. He produced a number of interesting townscapes, often showing the interiors of buildings. However, by the 1930s he became interested in the ideals of the sosaku hanga movement and began carving and printing his own blocks. He became less realistic and more impressionistic.
Yoshimitsu Nomura (n.d.) was another talented shin hanga landscape artist. His prints, which display an excellent sense of panoramic space, show the influence of his French art teacher. He specialized in landscapes and scenes of Kyoto. He was published by Sato Shotaro, who is also regarded highly in the shin hanga movement.
2 Pachter, Irwin ]., Kawase Hasui and His Contemporaries: The Shin Hanga (New Print) Movement in Landscape Art, Syracuse, 1986, 23-26.
AGGV COLLECTS/SHIN HANGA 25
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