Sumida River-Mist
Artist/Culture
Yoshida, Hiroshi
(Japanese, 1876–1950)
Publisher
Yoshida, Hiroshi
(Japanese, 1876–1950)
Date1926
Mediumwoodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions27.4 x 40.4 cm (10 13/16 x 15 7/8 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
MarkingsJizuri printed in left margin
Credit LineHarriet B. Bancroft Fund
Object number1998.52
DescriptionAlthough the woodblocks for this print are the same ones used to produce SumidaRiver Morning (pl. 37), Yoshida's printing created an entirely different image. On the paper's surface we can see marks made by the movement of the baren, the bamboo-covered disc used to rub the back of the paper when printing the impression. Not uncommon in works by the Creative Print artists, these marks create a layered tonal effect that suggests hazy, misty atmospheric conditions such as those so effectively conveyed here. Although Yoshida is usually classified among the New Print artists, his highly skilled and inventive use of the medium reveal him to have been an independent artist who developed techniques to carry out his own artistic vision. While Tokyo is ostensibly the subject of these Sumida River prints, the treatment of fight and the mist and fog are really their subject (see also pl. 39): By-the time Yoshida produced these prints, the way the medium was understood by both artist and viewer had changed: no longer merely a mew oft ilv -information, it was now understood as a vehicle capable of producing conscious works of art.
ProvenanceMerlin Dailey
On View
Not on view
