Framed Yoshida Toshi Woodblock Print Shirasagi Castle Japanese Shin-Hanga Signed. Print Size in centimeters: 17 x 24. Print size in inches: 6.75 x 9.5. Frame size in centimeters: 30 x 35. Frame size in inches: 11.75 x 13.75. Himeji Castle sits on a hilltop in the city of Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. One of the finest examples of traditional castle architecture in Japan, the castle is also known as Hakuro-jo or Shirasagi-jo (White Heron Castle), because of its brilliant white exterior and supposed resemblance to a bird taking flight. In this print, the artist captures the beautiful silhouette of the castle from a great distance, with its imposing height dominating the surrounding area. During his childhood, an illness left him unable to attend school and he enjoyed watching animals and his father’s printmaking workshop. Encouraged by his grandmother, Toshi often sketched animals. During his artistic career, Toshi Yoshida struggled to balance staying loyal to his father and developing his own style, while seeking to renew the declining ukiyo-e tradition as a shin-hanga artist. Although he chose animals as his speciality in 1926, his early works through the 1950s, like’Tokyo at Night’ (1938), adopted landscapes in a style similar to his father’s. However, compared to Hiroshi’s elaborate, subdued and monumental landscape prints, Toshi’s usage of rich and profound colour succeeds in expressing candid traditional Japanese scenery. The death of his father in 1950 marked Toshi’s total break from his past and he produced a series of abstract prints. These experimental designs draw from expressionism and pop art with bold colour palettes. From 1971 to 1994, until the last years of his life, Toshi worked almost exclusively on animal prints. Toshi was also a children’s book illustrator. He wrote his own short stories and made illustrations in the’Animal Picture Book’ series. As with his father’s prints, Toshi signed his artworks in pencil and very often the titles provided are in English. This item is in the category “Antiques\Asian Antiques\Japan\Prints”. The seller is “gigl-86″ and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Primary Material: Paper
- Size: 17.1×24cm
- Color: Multi-Color
- Original/Reproduction: Antique Original
- Featured Refinements: Japanese Woodblock Print
- Region of Origin: Japan
- Age: 1900-1940
- Maker: Toshi Yoshida
