Series: Eight scenes of cherry blossoms, Eight scenes of cherry blossoms: in the courtyard of a temple, 1935
Technique: nishikie , Color woodblock print, Shin Hanga
Signed Yoshida, artist's seal
Published by Yoshida himself, with jizuri seal: self-printed
Format: oban (mm. 375x245)
A splendid proof with excellent colours. Printed on Japan paper. In perfect condition, with excellent margins all around beyond the marginal line.
Bibliography: Bibliography: Ogura, Yoshida Hiroshi zenhangashu ( The Complete Woodblock Prints of Hiroshi Yoshida ), 1987, Abe Publishing Co., Tokyo, n.197
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/196994
A cherry blossom scene at Kisho Shrine in Hongo, Tokyo. Visitors stop to admire the pond and the fleeting beauty of the cherry trees in spring.
Yoshida Hiroshi was one of the leading figures of the shin-hanga movement and stands out as one of the leading landscape painters of his time. Born in Fukuoka, he was adopted by his art teacher Yoshida Kosaburo. In 1893 he went to Kyoto to study the yoga and nihonga painting styles and often produced watercolors.
Yoshida's interest in woodblock prints came only in middle age when he began collaborating with the shin-hanga publisher Watanabe Shozaburo. He created seven prints under his guidance, although the collaboration ended abruptly when the publishing agency burned down following the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. In 1925 he established his own workshop where he employed woodcutters and printers while supervising every aspect of the printing process. The jizuri (self-printed) seal is found in the margin of the prints made under his close supervision.
The artist was extremely fond of travel and undertook many trips throughout his life, depicting locations in the United States, India, China, Korea, North Africa, the Himalayas and Switzerland. He was also an avid mountaineer and most of his prints depict landscapes from his travels and Alpine scenes from his mountaineering excursions. His style reflects his training as a painter and watercolourist. His prints display a wonderful choice of colour shades, while his skill in depicting the natural flow of water and the reflections on its surface is remarkable.
Many of Hiroshi's prints were exported and became popular in the West. He was fortunate to exhibit his oil and watercolor paintings both in Japan and abroad and to have won numerous awards at art shows. He was one of the few shin-hanga artists to sign his works in English. His sons, Toshi Yoshida and Hodaka Yoshida, became great artists in their own right.