Hiroshi Yoshida

1876-1950

Hollyhocks
(Tachiaoi)

with sumi ink signature at lower left, Yoshida with artist's double seals Sairan; and jizuri ('self printed') seal on left margin followed by the date, Showa ninen saku (made in Showa 2 [1927]) with Japanese title Tachiaoi, titled and signed in English with pencil on the bottom margin, Hollyhocks, Hiroshi Yoshida, 1927

16 5/8 by 21 1/2 in., 42.2 by 54.5 cm

The double seal Sairan is a go (art name) given to Yoshida by his artist-friend, Nakamura Fusetsu (1866-1943). Sairan means "cutting brocade," perhaps intended as a reference to the old term for full-color printing, nishiki-e, or, brocade pictures, and the carving of beauty from blocks.

The Toledo catalog, Fresh Impressions, records that the blocks for this print were carved by Maeda Yujiro.

Provenance:
Paul Binnie (woodblock print artist, b. 1967)

References:
Ben Bruce Blakeney, Yoshida Hiroshi: Print-Maker, 1950, p. 23
Ogura Tadao, The Complete Woodblock Prints of Hiroshi Yoshida (Yoshida Hiroshi zenhangashu), 1987, p. 93, no. 101
Carolyn Putney, et. al., Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Toledo Museum of Art, 2013, p. 304, cat. no. 316
National Museum of Asian Art, accession no. S1998.284
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 50.3432

(inv. no. C-3865)

price: $5,500 (reserved)