Hiroshi Yoshida: Commemorating The 70th Anniversary of The Death of The Master of Shin-hanga (Modern Ukiyo-E)

Hiroshi Yoshida (1876 – 1950) was one of the major shin-hanga painters ( “shin” means “new”, and “hanga” means “woodblock painting”) who had fans worldwide, including psychologist Sigmund Freud and Princess Diana. He impressed the world with his masterful blending of Western-style realism and traditional Japanese woodblock printing methods; but this didn’t happen by accident. His career coincided with the bumpy transformation that Japanese society and culture had to navigate after Japan “opened its doors” to foreign countries in 1868 following the strict isolationism that lasted for hundreds of years. Japanese artists, at that time and in order to establish artistic identity, were forced to reconcile the flood of Western culture that suddenly poured into the country with traditional Japanese aesthetics. Yoshida found his answer by injecting Western-style modernism into traditional woodblock painting.

After 1868, the Japanese aggressively sought to modernize/Westernize many aspects of their society, including the education system and art. Yoshida’s generation was one of the first to receive a fully Westernized art education, and like many colleagues, he started his career as a Western-style painter. Some of his fellow young artists were even given opportunities to study in Europe, and upon their return, he saw how they dominated the Japanese art scene. Yoshida didn’t win such scholarships, but he knew that his landscape paintings that excelled in capturing the subtle beauty of nature were popular among Westerners living in Japan. As he wanted to try his chance abroad, he managed to collect barely enough money for a one-way ticket to the US when he was 23 years old. Once there he held exhibitions in Detroit and Boston which were well received. After the initial success, he spent many of the subsequent years travelling, holding exhibitions and winning awards in various competitions.

During his days abroad, he saw that ukiyo-e was becoming increasingly popular, and even low-quality products were traded at high prices. He saw the opportunity and started producing woodblock paintings upon his return to Japan. It was a strategic pivot for him since he was already approaching 50 years old. He wasted no time and quickly mastered woodblock techniques, and became a one-of-a-kind, modern ukiyo-e artist who possessed a solid foundation in Western painting.