was a Japanese

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

. She was the first female artist among the

Yoshida family artists The Yoshida family of artists is an important line of Japanese artists that reaches unbroken from the early 19th century to the present. Overview Just how far back before that their work extended is unclear, but the first artists who appear in reco ...

. She was the daughter of artist and his wife . She married artist . Trained from an early age in the Western-style, she went on to create both naturalistic and abstract

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, and

woodblock print Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...

s. Her paintings of enlarged flower parts are sometimes, and perhaps incorrectly, associated with

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Amer ...

’s work. Her father and mother had a family of four girls, but to begin with no son was born to carry on 's work as a Western-style artist. As a result, adopted his most talented student, . A few years later a son was born, but was so favored by his adoptive father that he retained his status as first son. After died, enrolled in some of the best Western-style studios in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. As often happened in Japan, then married in 1907. and traveled together to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1903-05. They held their first brother and sister exhibition in Providence, Rhode Island. Only 16 years old, was an instant American art world phenomenon, admired for her beauty and exotic

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

, but even more so for her graceful watercolor scenes of Japan. Shows in other East Coast cities followed. She sold almost as many pieces as on that trip and on subsequent trips in 1907 and 1923-25. Each trip included travel around the world on the way back to Tokyo. She then entered Bunten exhibitions and received honors. She exhibited with and helped establish the (Vermilion Leaf Society), the art society for women. 's first-born child, a girl, died in 1911. Overcome with grief, stopped painting for almost 10 years. In 1911, her first son, was born, but within a year he had contracted polio, leaving him partially paralyzed. A second son, , was born in 1926. Both sons became artists. After died in 1950, lived first with 's family and then with 's family. Influenced by 's abstract art, she began in 1949 to create abstract flower paintings in oils, watercolors, and in 1953 in woodblock prints. published her autobiography, (Vermilion Leaf Record), in 1978. In 1980 she held her first solo exhibition in Tokyo. She died peacefully in 's home in 1987, just days short of her 100th birthday. A very important large and scholarly exhibit of her work was mounted by the

Fuchu Art Museum Fuchu, King of Chu (), clan name Xiong, () was from 227 to 223 BC the last king of the state of Chu during the late Warring States period of ancient China (though sources argue that Lord Changping was the last king of Chu). Fuchu was his give ...

near Tokyo in 2002, where her treatment of light was seen as clearly differentiating her work from her husband's. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts featured her work in its 2002 exhibit and catalogue, “A Japanese Legacy: Four Generations of Family Artists.”

Sources

* Fujio Yoshida, ''Shuyō no ki'', Taiyō Publishing Co., Tokyo, 1978 * ''Yoshida Fujio: A Painter of Radiance'', Fuchu Art Museum, 2002 * Allen, et al., ''A Japanese Legacy: Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists'', Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshida, Fujio 1887 births 1987 deaths Japanese printmakers 20th-century Japanese painters 20th-century printmakers