Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking

19 Jun-3 Nov 2024

Overview

Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking will bring together artworks by the Yoshida family, a Japanese artistic dynasty including Yoshida Hiroshi, Fujio, Tōshi, Hodaka Chizuko and Ayomi. The first of its kind in the UK – and Europe more widely – this exhibition will shine a spotlight on three generations of woodblock print artists and trace the evolution of Japanese printmaking across two centuries.

The exhibition will culminate with a new site-specific installation of cherry blossom by Yoshida Ayomi, Hodaka’s and Chizuko’s daughter.

Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking will feature loans from international and private collections. The majority of works by Yoshida Hiroshi will be on loan from the Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan and are travelling to the UK for the first time. The exhibition is curated by Dr Monika Hinkel with support from Helen Hillyard, Curator at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950)
The exhibition will open with work by Yoshida Hiroshi, one of Japan’s greatest artists. A pioneer of the shin hanga movement, he travelled across the world and gained an international reputation for his woodblock prints of American and European landscapes. New research will provide an insight into Hiroshi’s time in London, including his visit to Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1900, and his signature in the Gallery’s visitor book.

Yoshida Fujio (1887–1987)
Works by Yoshida Fujio, a renowned water colourist, painter and printmaker, will be exhibited in the UK for the first time. Fujio was married to Hiroshi and travelled with him across the USA and Europe, exhibiting her delicate water colours of Japan to acclaim.

Yoshida Tōshi (1911–1995) and Yoshida Hodaka (1926–1995)
The exhibition will also showcase prints by Hiroshi’s and Fujio’s sons, Tōshi and Hodaka, both of whom brought post-war abstraction to the Japanese printmaking process.

Yoshida Chizuko (1924–2017)
Yoshida Chizuko, who married Hodaka, was a renowned artist and co-founder of the first group of female printmakers in Japan, the Women’s Print Association. Her works were said to have connected popular art movements such as Abstract Expressionism and traditional Japanese printmaking.

Yoshida Ayomi (b. 1958)
The exhibition will culminate with a new site-specific installation of cherry blossom by Yoshida Ayomi, Hodaka’s and Chizuko’s daughter. The youngest member of the Yoshida printmaking family, Ayomi’s practice combines traditional Japanese printmaking techniques with modern elements, often utilising organic materials, and she has been exhibited at major international institutions.