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El Capitan

El Capitan

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Hiroshi Yoshida

Hiroshi Yoshida was one of the most active travelers among Japanese artists in the early twentieth century. He was a leading proponent of the Shin-hanga, or “new print,” movement, which revived the declining print industry. Unlike other Shin-hanga artists who sought to restore Japan’s picturesque traditional scenery, Hiroshi was keen to depict non-Japanese landscapes using Japanese woodblock techniques. His subjects include the Taj Mahal, the Matterhorn, Venice, and the scene in this print, El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Hiroshi was trained in Japan in Western painting styles and possessed extensive knowledge of Japanese woodcut techniques. He added atmospheric depth to his landscape by printing numerous layers of different colored inks. This technique gave Japanese landscape prints a fresh feel and encouraged the American market for older Japanese woodblock prints as well. Yoshida had exhibitions in Detroit, Boston, and Washington. - Chi-Lynn Lin, "Echoing Overseas" label text, Fall 2022
Artist
Hiroshi Yoshida
(Japanese, 1876 - 1950)
Title
El Capitan
Date
1925
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
377 x 250 mm Overall
Credit
Bequest of Abigail Van Vleck
Accession No.
1984.1193
Classification
Prints
Geography
Japan

Related

By 1943, acquired by Edward Burr Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 1943, passed through inheritance to Edward’s son, John H. Van Vleck (Cambridge, MA); 1980, passed through inheritance to John’s wife, Abigail P. Van Vleck (Cambridge, MA); 1984, bequeathed to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Artscene." Vol. 14, No. 4, Summer 1998. p. 8
  • Stevens, Andrew. "Color Woodcut International: Japan, Britain, and America In the Early Twentieth Century." Madison: Chazen Museum of Art, 2006. p. 115, no. 57
  • Roberts, Laurance P. "A Dictionary of Japanese Artists: Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints, Lacquer." 1st edition. Tokyo; New York: Weatherhill, 1976. p. 201
  • Merritt, Helen and Nanako Yamada. "Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975." University of Hawaii Press, 1992. p. 176
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Artscene." Summer 1999. back cover
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "The Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints." Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1990. p. 343

  • Echoing Overseas: Asian Artistic Exchange: Chazen Museum of Art, 8/8/2022–11/28/2022
  • Japanese Masterworks: Woodblock Prints from the Chazen Museum of Art Collection: Chazen Museum of Art, 5/6/2016–8/14/2016
  • Color Woodcut International: Japan, Britain, and America in the Early 20th Century: Chazen Museum of Art, 12/9/2006–2/25/2007

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