was a Japanese

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

artist who worked first in oils, and then from 1950 in the woodblock print medium. From the beginning of his career, he broadened the range of styles and techniques used by Yoshida family artists.

Family

His father and mother, Hiroshi Yoshida and

Fujio Yoshida was a Japanese artist. She was the first female artist among the Yoshida family artists. 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 a ...

, were both leading Western-style artists in Tokyo in oils, watercolors, and from 1925 in '' shin-hanga'' woodblock prints. Hodaka's older brother, Tōshi Yoshida, became the heir to the Yoshida Studio and worked in both oils and woodblock prints. Hodaka was supposed to become a scientist, but as the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

ended, he defied his father's plans and became, not only an artist, but one who focused on abstraction, a style his father disdained. (Skibbe, 11-12) Unlike others in the family, Hodaka's art is quite complex, with an "edgy" feel to it. (Robertson, 114)

Analysis of his work

Instead of having a straight line development, his work moved forward in a series of abrupt stages. For example, his 1955 encounter in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

with primitive

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

artifacts and architecture radically reoriented his art. A survey of the total range of his work - about 600 prints over 45 years - reveals distinct periods, each having major changes in subject matter, vocabulary, style, and color palette. His styles, while always his own, drew from Expressionism, Pop, Photorealism, and Color Field abstraction. (Allen, et al., 114-119) Broadly speaking most of his prints would be categorized as '' sōsaku-hanga''. Main periods: 1950-53 Early Prints - simple modern observations of nature and human nature 1953-54 Buddhist Prints - modern reformulations of traditional Japanese material culture 1955-63 Primitive Prints - abstractions of the primitive in Pre-Columbian forms 1963-66 Folk Prints (Transition A) - witty perspectives on indigenous South American culture 1966-74 Mythology and Landscape Prints - Pop art exposé of modern culture in decline 1974-79 House and Nude Prints (Transition B) - the tension aroused by premodern/modern 1979-84 FMC House Prints - the basic human element in houses from various cultures 1984-91 Recollection Prints (Transition C) - noting old and distressed objects 1991-95 Wall Prints - the human story on the surfaces of old walls The print technology Hodaka used was not limited to woodblock, but included monoprinting, wood

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

, copper

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...

, lithograph, and often employed photo-transfer techniques. In this regard he was a pioneer in Japan in the 1960s and 70's. (Allen, et al., 114-117) His subject matter was drawn from objects in cultures all around the world. In spite of these various dynamics, each of Hodaka's periods is an exploration in the same basic direction, into what might be called modernist expressions of primitive human vitality. (Robertson, 114; Skibbe, 47-49) Individual prints show great artistry in composition and color.

Modernist

In Chapter One of his book, ''A Fine Disregard: What Makes Modern Art Modern'', 1990, Kirk Varnedoe says that modern art has four basic characteristics: (1) the flattened image instead of the illusion of space, (2) fragmentation and repetition in the composition, rather than the complete object, (3) primitivism, in the sense of an artifact revealing something latent deep within ourselves, and (4) the flight of the mind, the freedom to assume any point of departure, or to conceptualize as one wishes. Hodaka’s art exemplifies all four characteristics, and he did this without suppressing his Japanese aesthetic sensibility. Hodaka clearly was a modern Japanese internationalist, and as such he broadened the artistic heritage of the Yoshida family. (www.hodakayoshidaprints.com) He exhibited mainly in major international art biennials. Hodaka received many awards and prizes, including the Purple Ribbon Decoration bestowed by the Emperor in 1990, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Fourth class, awarded by the Emperor posthumously in 1995. (Skibbe, 20) Hodaka's wife, Chizuko Yoshida, née Inoue, (1924-) and their daughter Ayomi Yoshida (1958-) are both artists, and their son Takasuke (1959-) is an art jewelry maker. (Allen, 10)

References

*Homma Masayoshi “Yoshida Hodaka no hanga,” in ''Hangakan'' 8 (1984), 29-40 *''Yoshida Hodaka Hangatan,'' Vol. 3, ''Shûzô sakka,'' Machida Shiritsu Kokusai Hanga Bijutsukan, 1988 *Skibbe, Eugene M. ''Yoshida Hodaka: The Magic of Art,'' Seascape, 1997 *Allen, Laura, et al. ''A Japanese Legacy: Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists,'' Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2002. *Web site at http://www.hodakayoshidaprints.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshida, Hodaka Japanese printmakers 1926 births 1995 deaths Sosaku hanga artists 20th-century Japanese painters 20th-century printmakers