Kawanishi Hide (川西英)

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Kawanishi Hide (川西英), 1894-1965, whose given name was Hideo, was born and worked in Kobe, an international port city that inspired much of his subject matter. He was employed as a postmaster, but his ancestors were merchants, particularly traders in several alcoholic spirits, sake (酒 or nihonshu 日本酒), mirin (味醂), and shôchû (焼酎), which they transported to Tokyo in their fleet of ships. Kawanishi's family opposed his becoming involved in painting and printmaking. A self-taught artist, Kawanishi started painting in oils, but turned to woodblock printmaking after seeing a print by Yamamoto Kanae (A small bay in Brittany) displayed in a shop window in Osaka. He was not interested in ukiyo-e, although Nagasaki-e naturally fascinated him, with its exotic ships and foreign traders. Gradually abandoning oils, Kawanishi fell under the influence of the Art Deco poster style of the 1920s and first exhibited prints in 1923 with the Nihon Sôsaku Hanga Kyôkai (Japan Creative Print Association 日本創作版画協会 founded 1918). Other influences were Takehisa Yumeji (竹久夢二), Onchi Kôshirô (恩地孝四郎), Yamamoto Kanae (山本鼎), and European artists such as Lautrec, Gaugin, Van Gogh, Leger, and Matisse.

Kawanishi used poster colors and sumi (Japanese carbon black, i.e., soot, water, and glue), cutting his blocks with a curved chisel to obtain soft edges. He used katsura or ho wood, and printed on hodomura paper. He produced a large number of single-sheet designs (possibly as many as 1,000), as well as printed albums and books, and sets or series. The latter included Shôwa bijin fûzoku jûnitai (Twelve customs of beauties from the Shôwa era), 1929; Kobe jûnigagetsu fûkei (Scenes of Kobe during the twelve months), 1931; and Hanga Kobe hyakkei (Prints of one hundred views of Kobe), 1935. Kawanishi was awarded the Hyôgo Prefecture Culture Prize (1949) and the Kobe Shinbun Peace Prize (1962). His son Kawanishi Yûzaburô (川西祐三郎 1923-2014) worked in his father's style, but with more international subjects. Yûzaburô also edited the catalogue raisonné of his father's prints (see ref. below).

For more about this artist, see Kawanishi Biography.

Design

Saihō-ji is a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple in Matsuo, Nishikyô Ward, Kyoto, Japan. Famed for its moss garden, the temple is commonly referred to as "Kokedera", meaning "moss temple," while the formal name is "Kôinzan Saihô-ji" (洪隠山西芳寺). The temple, primarily constructed to honor Amitâbha (the principal Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism), was founded by the Buddhist priest Gyôki (行基, 668-749) and later restored by the Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and teacher Musô Soseki (夢窓疎石, 1275-1351). According to temple legend, Saihō-ji was constructed on the location of one of Prince Shôtoku's former retreats. (Prince Shôtoku, 聖徳太子, also known as Prince Umayado 厩戸皇子 or Prince Kamitsumiya 上宮皇子, was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period who served under Empress Suiko 推古天皇.) In 1994, Saihô-ji was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto." Over 120 types of moss are present in the two-tiered garden.

Kawanishi's view of the entrance to the temple grounds features the intense colors of autumn, quite suitable to the artist's preferred use of undiluted poster colors. The doors to the gate are open, providing a glimpse of foliage beyond. The forms of solid colors in the trees (representational abstraction for the leaves) that seem to float in air and the posts along the walkway, all slightly off the vertical, establish a lively rhythm that complements the receding perspective of the scene.

References:

• D'Orlando, A., de Vries, M, Uhlenbeck, C. and Wessels, E.: Nostalgia and Modernity: The Styles of Komura Settai and Kawanishi Hide. Amsterdam: Nihin no Hanga, spring 2012. (exhibition cat.).
• Kawanishi Hide, Gashû "Kôbe hyakkei" Kawanishi Hide ga aishita fûkei (Collected pictures, "100 Scenes of Kobe," favorite scenes of Kawanishi Hide: 画集『神戸百景』川西英が愛した風景), 2008.
• Kawanishi Yûzaburô (川西祐三郎 ed.), Kawanishi Hide hanga shû (Collected prints of Kawanishi Hide, 川西英版画須). Tokyo: Masao Koga and Keishôsha Co., publisher: 1980, Vol. II, p. 112.
• Kobe City Koiso Memorial Museum of Art: (Kawanishi Hide, the retrospective. 120th anniversary of his birth (Kobe shiritsu Koiso kinen bijutsukan (神戸市立小磯記念美術館), Kawanishi hide kaiko ten — Seitan ichihyakunijû nen (川西回顧展 生誕120年). Kobe: 2014, no. 63-1, p. 62.
• Uhlenbeck, C., Newland, A.R., de Vries, M.: Waves of renewal: modern Japanese prints, 1900 to 1960, Selections from the Nihon no hanga collections, Amsterdam. Hotei Publishing, 2016, pp. 240-246.