RICHMOND, VA.- Water and Shadow: Kawase Hasui and Japanese Landscape Prints presents more than 100 woodblock prints, rarely-seen screens, scroll and fan paintings, and preparatory materials that explore the dynamic early work of famous Japanese landscape artist Kawase Hasui. The exhibition, on display November 15, 2014 – March 29, 2015, is drawn primarily from VMFA’s noted collection of Hasui prints.

The exhibition spans Hasui’s most imaginative period, the years from 1918 to the Great Earthquake of 1923. It shows the interplay between his prints, his graphic design, and his rare paintings. It demonstrates Hasui’s popularity as possibly the greatest landscape artist of the 20th century, and why his art has been embraced by American and Japanese audiences for nearly a century.

The exhibition focuses on Hasui’s pre-earthquake prints, images that are his most lauded and difficult to collect as many were destroyed in the great disaster. Also of special note are three two-panel screens that will be exhibited for the first time in North America.

Drawing from the unparalleled collection donated to VMFA by preeminent Hasui collectors René and Carolyn Balcer, the exhibition exemplifies the creativity and cultural hybridity Hasui’s work embodies. Named Japan’s premier “poet of place,” Hasui manifests influences of the early shin-hanga (new prints) movement, as well as stylistic nods to artistic traditions ranging from ukiyo-e and French Japonisme to Post-Impressionist painting.

“Thanks to the Balcers, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts now has the finest collection of the work of Kawase Hasui of any art museum in the United States,” Director Alex Nyerges said. “These prints reveal not only Hasui’s keen aesthetic vision, but also reveal the tremendous skill of the artisans who worked closely with him to produce these images.”

A video adapted from a 1956 film with English narration accompanies the exhibit, displaying Hasui sketching and demonstrating the production of his prints. The exhibition includes relevant prints by seminal Japanese landscape masters Hiroshige and Kiyochika, as well as works by Hasui contemporaries Takahashi Hiroaki and Ito Shinsui. This comparative work will allow viewers to understand Hasui’s appropriation of pre-modern and modern styles and themes, establishing visual and ideological resonances within the exhibition.

The exhibition is organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and guest curated by Dr. Kendall Brown, professor of Asian art history at California State University, Long Beach.