HIROSHI YOSHIDA (1876-1950) was born in Kurume City in Kyushu, the southern most island of Japan. His father Ueda Tsukane was an educator from a samurai family. Hiroshi’s extraordinary art talent was discovered by Yoshida Kisaburo who adopted him while he was in middle school and arranged for him to study with watercolor artist Miyake Katsumi in Kyoto and then Koyama Shotaro in Tokyo. At the age of twenty he began working primarily in Tokyo and it was not long before he became one of the most prominent and popular of Japan's woodblock print artists. While at first at the mercy of publishers, he soon began employing his own carvers and printers who worked directly under his supervision in his own studio. An adventurous spirit he enjoyed mountain climbing and traveled extensively through Europe and America. Yoshida was attracted by the calmer aspects of nature. His prints exude coolness, invite meditation, and set a soft peaceful mood. In April 1950 he died. A world traveler his prints have been widely collected and exhibited internationally. Most of the important art museums of the world house his work.
The Ronin Gallery is please to present this exhibition of 16 first edition woodblock prints by Hiroshi Yoshida. The first edition of his prints are characterized by a jizuri (self-printed) seal usually in the upper left or right margin and are pencil signed Hiroshi Yoshida in the lower right corner. In most cases he also signed his prints in brush inside the design in hiragana reading Yoshida and used a red seal.
