The greatest Japanese painter you’ve never heard of

Hasui Kawase was an influential 20th century Japanese landscape painter. Born in 1883, Kawase travelled extensively throughout Japan and produced hundreds of woodblock prints of cities and the countryside. In particular, he’s famous for his paintings of snow and rain. His art also often includes recognizable features of the Japanese landscape, like the iconic pine trees known as matsu and the cedars called sugi. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*FIb5XzzFvNgucvQa.jpg" style="height:999px; width:700px" /> In 1923, when Kawase was 40 years old, an earthquake struck, destroying his workshop and much of his work. This only increased Kawase’s fascination and respect for nature. Over the next three decades, Kawase became a core figure in the shin hanga movement. These were woodblock artists who combined a respect for traditional Japanese art forms with influences from the outside world, with which Japan was coming into increasingly closer contact. Kawase’s work incorporates Western techniques of light and, in particular, a European approach to perspective. <a href="https://medium.com/@LucHaasbroek/the-greatest-japanese-painter-youve-never-heard-of-d3fb434915da">Website</a>