Advent Evening Snow at Kiyomizudera

Evening Snow at Kiyomizudera Temple

This woodblock print shows a view from inside the Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto on a snowy evening. Snow falls steadily, forming drifts on the wooden balcony. Through the pillars, two figures can be seen looking out from the tall wooden balcony for which the temple is famous. Their umbrellas provide the only splashes of colour in this peaceful scene. 

It's by the artist Kawase Hasui, who was part of the ‘New Print’ movement which revitalised the Japanese woodblock print tradition by combining elements of Western art, such as shading and perspective, with traditional techniques and subjects.

New Prints portrayed an idealised Japan that was a continuation of the image evoked by Hiroshige and Hokusai decades earlier.

Evening Snow at Kiyomizudera
Kawase Hasui (1883–1957)

Colour woodblock print, 1950
Japan
35.5 x 23.2 cm
EA1963.44

Not currently on display