Art and Design

2024年5月13日星期一

painter and woodblock printmaker Yoshida Hiroshi (吉田博, 1876-1950).

吉田博『雲井櫻』

"Iris Garden in Horikiri" (堀切の志ようぶ), a 1928 (Shôwa 3) vertical ôban from "Twelve Scenes of Tokyo" (東京拾二題, Tôkyô jûni dai), by acclaimed 20th century Japanese landscape painter and woodblock printmaker Yoshida Hiroshi (吉田博, 1876-1950).

Sheet dimensions (h x w): 40.6 x 27.4 cm (16 x 10 13/16 inches).

Dated, signed and titled by the artist in English on the bottom margin.

Bearing the jizuri seal, meaning self-printed, on the upper left margin, with other details in Japanese below.

Born Hiroshi Ueda in the city of Kurume (久留米市), Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyūshū , he showed an early aptitude for art fostered by his adoptive father, a teacher of painting in the public schools. At the age of 19, he was sent to Kyōto 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. These institutions were teaching and encouraging Western-style painting following the opening up of Japan in 1868 after 200 years of Shogunate rule.

Because of these influences, he became a member of Meiji Bijutsukai (Meiji Fine Arts Society) and later founded Taiheiyogakkai (the Pacific Western Painting Society). Yoshida Hiroshi aimed to create a new style by bringing together the realistic rendering of European paintings and techniques of traditional Japanese woodblock printing.

in 1899 he visited the USA for the very first time and travelled through the country holding oil painting exhibitions in various places. Afterwards, he often visited overseas to find inspirational painting subjects or to hold viewings of his growing portfolio of new designs. He was particularly known for his images of non-Japanese subjects done in traditional Japanese woodblock style, including the Taj Mahal, the Swiss Alps, the Grand Canyon, and other National Parks in the United States.

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

He also produced a number of landscape prints (along with Kawase Hasui) with Tokyo publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō (渡辺庄三郎, 1885–1962) who was the driving force behind shin-hanga.