was a 20th-century Japanese painter 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 ...

maker. He is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the

shin-hanga was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, that revitalized the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods (17th–19th century). It maintained the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' co ...

style, and is noted especially for his excellent landscape prints. Yoshida travelled widely, and was particularly known for his images of non-Japanese subjects done in traditional Japanese woodblock style, including the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

, the Swiss Alps, the Grand Canyon, and other

National Parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

in the United States.

Biography

Hiroshi Yoshida (born Hiroshi Ueda) was born in the city of

Kurume, Fukuoka is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 303,579 and a population density of 1,320 persons per km². The total area is 229.96 km². On February 5, 2005, the town of Kitano (from ...

, in Kyushu, on September 19, 1876. He showed an early aptitude for art fostered by his adoptive father, a teacher of painting in the public schools. At age 19 he was sent to Kyoto to study under Tamura Shoryu, a well known teacher of western style painting. He then studied under Koyama Shōtarō, in Tokyo, for another three years. In 1899, Yoshida had his first American exhibition at

Detroit Museum of Art The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project complete ...

(now Detroit Institute of Art). He then traveled to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, Providence and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. In 1920, Yoshida presented his first woodcut at the Watanabe Print Workshop, organized by

Watanabe Shōzaburō Watanabe ( and other variantsSee #Miscellaneous) is a Japanese surname derived from the noble and samurai Watanabe clan, a branch of the Minamoto clan, descending from the Emperor Saga (786-842), the 52nd Emperor of Japan, and refers to a locat ...

(1885–1962), publisher and advocate of the

movement. However, Yoshida's collaboration with Watanabe was short partly due to Watanabe's shop burning down because of the

Great Kanto earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

on September 1, 1923. In 1925, he hired a group of professional carvers and printers, and established his own studio. Prints were made under his close supervision. Yoshida combined the

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

collaborative system with the sōsaku-hanga principle of "artist's prints", and formed a third school, separating himself from the

and sōsaku-hanga movement. His art is used all around the world, wanting to inspire young artists to follow their hearts and to teach them that they should do what they'd like, even if nobody else in the room agrees. Hiroshi's art is used with clear credit to his name, and a small summary about his life. At the age of 73, Yoshida took his last sketching trip to

Izu Izu may refer to: Places *Izu Province, a part of modern-day Shizuoka prefecture in Japan **Izu, Shizuoka, a city in Shizuoka prefecture **Izu Peninsula, near Tokyo **Izu Islands, located off the Izu Peninsula People with the surname

*, Japane ...

and Nagaoka and painted his last works ''The Sea of Western Izu'' and ''The Mountains of Izu''. He became sick on the trip and returned to Tokyo where he died April 5, 1950 at his home. His tomb is in the grounds of the Ryuun-in, in

Koishikawa is a district of Bunkyo, Tokyo. It consists of five sub-areas, . In Koishikawa are located two well regarded gardens: the Koishikawa Botanical Garden (operated by the University of Tokyo) in Hakusan, and the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Kō ...

, Tokyo.

Artistic style

Hiroshi Yoshida was trained in the Western

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

tradition, which was adopted in Japan during the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. Yoshida often used the same blocks and varied the colour to suggest different moods. The best example of such is ''Sailing Boats'' in 1921. Yoshida's extensive travel and acquaintance with Americans influenced his art considerably. In 1931 a series of prints depicting scenes from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Singapore was published. Six of these were views of the

in different moods and colors. His works are held in several museums worldwide, including the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, the

Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...

, the Brooklyn Museum, the

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, the

Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, ...

, the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, the

Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...

, the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum beca ...

, the

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It ...

, the

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

, the

Tokyo Fuji Art Museum was established by Daisaku Ikeda and opened near the Sōka University campus in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan, in 1983. The new wing was added in 2008. The collection of some thirty thousand works spans the arts and cultures of Japan, Asia, and Europ ...

, the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project comple ...

, the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, and the

Mount Holyoke College Art Museum The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (established 1876) in South Hadley, Massachusetts, is located on the Mount Holyoke College campus and is a member of Museums10. It is one of the oldest teaching museums in the country, dedicated to providin ...

The Yoshida family legacy

The artistic lineage of the Yoshida family of eight artists: Kasaburo Yoshida (1861–1894), whose wife Rui Yoshida was an artist; their daughter

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 ...

(1887–1987); Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950), their adopted son, who married Fujio;

Tōshi Yoshida was a Japanese printmaking artist associated with the '' sōsaku-hanga'' movement, and son of '' shin-hanga'' artist Hiroshi Yoshida. Childhood One of Yoshida's legs was paralysed during his early childhood. Not being able to attend school, ...

(1911–1995), Hiroshi's son, whose wife Kiso Yoshida (1919–2005) was an artist;

Hodaka Yoshida was a Japanese modernist 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 an ...

(1926–1995), another of Hiroshi's sons, whose wife Chizuko Yoshida (1924–2017) and daughter Ayomi Yoshida (b. 1958) are artists. This group, four men and four women spanning four generations, provides an interesting perspective in looking at Japanese history and art development in the turbulent 20th Century. Although they inherit the same tradition, the Yoshida family artists work in different styles with different sensibilities. Toshi Yoshida and the Yoshida family have used the original Hiroshi Yoshida woodblocks to create later versions, including posthumous, of Hiroshi Yoshida prints. Prints created under Hiroshi Yoshida's management with special care have a jizuri seal kanji stamp. Jizuri means and indicates that Hiroshi Yoshida played an active role in the printing process of the respective print. The Hiroshi Yoshida signatures vary depending on the agents and time of creation. Hiroshi Yoshida prints sold originally in the Japanese market will not have a pencil signature or title in English.

Publications

''Japanese Woodblock Printing'', comprehensive guide to the craft of

woodblock printing 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 textile printing, printing on textiles and later paper. Each page o ...

written by Hiroshi Yoshida was published by The Sanseido Company, Ltd. in Tokyo and Osaka in 1939.Yoshida, 1939

Gallery

Hiroshi Yoshida, Hikaru umi, 1926.jpg, ''Glittering Sea'', 1926 Yoshida Komagatake.jpg, ''View from Komagatake'', 1928 Kagurazaka Street after a Night Rain (5759570482).jpg, ''Kagurazaka Street after a Night Rain'', 1929 Bamboo Grove (5759026915).jpg, ''Bamboo Grove'', 1939 Spring in a Hot Spring (5759555822).jpg, ''Spring in a Hot Spring'', 1940

References

Bibliography

* Allen, Laura W. ''A Japanese Legacy: Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists''. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Chicago: Art Media Resources, c2002. * Hiroshi Yoshida. https://web.archive.org/web/20070807134701/http://spectacle.berkeley.edu/~fiorillo/texts/shinhangatexts/shinhanga_pages/yoshida3.html. Retrieved September 3, 2006. *"The American Travels of Yoshida Hiroshi", Eugene M. Skibbe, in ''Andon 43'', January 1993, pp. 59–74, *Yoshida Hiroshi ''The Complete Woodblock Prints of Yoshida Hiroshi''. Abe Publishing Co, Tokyo, 1987. *Yoshida Toshi & Rei Yuki "Japanese Printmaking, A Handbook of Traditional & Modern Techniques". Charles E. Tuttle Co.Inc, Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan: c1966. *Blakeney, Ben B. "Yoshida Hiroshi Print-maker". Tokyo, Japan: Foreign Affairs Association of Japan, 1953 *Yoshida, Hiroshi. Japanese Wood-Block Printing. Tokyo & Osaka: Sanseido Co., Ltd, 1939

External links

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshida, Hiroshi 1876 births 1950 deaths Japanese printmakers Ukiyo-e artists People from Kurume Shin hanga artists 20th-century Japanese painters 20th-century printmakers Landscape artists