Red Pagoda in the Snow 1930

The Japanese artist Hasui Kawase (1883-1957) specialised in ‘shin-hanga’ prints, which combined the traditional woodblock techniques of the 17th to 19th centuries (known as ukiyo-e) with Western themes and imagery (known as yōga). He produced around 620 prints in his lifetime, largely images of picturesque landscapes and townscapes in natural lighting. Produced in the early 1930s, this particular print depicts a tiered tower known as a ‘pagoda’ dusted in a layer of snow. Icons of Japanese culture, pagodas were often constructed as Buddhist ceremonial spaces. In the foreground, a tree bows under the weight of the snow. Snowflakes gently fall from the grey sky. Here, Hasui Kawase has incorporated a manmade structure into the natural imagery of the forest, perhaps suggestive of a harmonious coexistence between humans and their environment. The simplicity of the composition, alongside its limited colour palette and flat pale background, builds a sense of stillness and tranquillity. Unlike the realism of his earlier prints, the artist uses thick and bold lines that are striking against the white snow. How does the print make you feel? 👇💬 Editor: Lucy Jude Grantham