Details
The image
A temple building seen through rain, the roof a single dark shape, the steps and courtyard suggested by a few horizontal lines. The palette is cool and narrow and the falling rain is drawn rather than painted, so the weather becomes a texture across the whole sheet.
Where it comes from
Kawase Hasui worked in the shin-hanga tradition, which revived the woodblock as a medium for landscape in the twentieth century and its central subject was weather: snow, rain, dusk, the moment when a place stops being a view and becomes a mood. Hasui travelled constantly and made prints from what he saw on the road and printers worked with a limited number of blocks, so the effects were built from flat areas and fine lines rather than from blending.
On the wall
It suits a study, a hallway or a bedroom, where a quiet vertical image makes a room feel taller. Because the palette is cool and the line is fine, it needs daylight and a wall that is not too busy. In a group it should be the calmest piece.
In company
Hung beside another piece from the Japanese collection, it reads as part of a series rather than a single picture.Avoid warm, saturated neighbours, the grey would read as decoration rather than as weather.
