<b>NIAGARA FALLS</b> / Hiroshi Yoshida1925<b>SOLD</b></em>
ARTIST: Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950)
TITLE: Niagara Falls
MEDIUM: Woodblock print
DATE: 1925
DIMENSIONS: 10 3/4 x 15 1/2 inches
CONDITION: Light wrinkling to margins
NOTE: Exceedingly early impression with embossing in design
LITERATURE: Ogura, Yoshida Hiroshi Zenhangashu (The Complete Woodblock Prints of Hiroshi Yoshida), Abe Shuppan, Tokyo, 1987, pl.12
SOLD
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ARTIST: Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950)
TITLE: Niagara Falls
MEDIUM: Woodblock print
DATE: 1925
DIMENSIONS: 10 3/4 x 15 1/2 inches
CONDITION: Light wrinkling to margins
NOTE: Exceedingly early impression with embossing in design
LITERATURE: Ogura, Yoshida Hiroshi Zenhangashu (The Complete Woodblock Prints of Hiroshi Yoshida), Abe Shuppan, Tokyo, 1987, pl.12
SOLD
.
ARTIST: Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950)
TITLE: Niagara Falls
MEDIUM: Woodblock print
DATE: 1925
DIMENSIONS: 10 3/4 x 15 1/2 inches
CONDITION: Light wrinkling to margins
NOTE: Exceedingly early impression with embossing in design
LITERATURE: Ogura, Yoshida Hiroshi Zenhangashu (The Complete Woodblock Prints of Hiroshi Yoshida), Abe Shuppan, Tokyo, 1987, pl.12
SOLD
.
Details
Hiroshi Yoshida started his career as an oil and watercolor painter. He traveled to the U.S. as early as 1899 and returned multiple times to exhibit his artwork and sightsee. An avid outdoorsman and hiker, Yoshida took full advantage of his travels and painted the important natural treasures he visited—all executed in the field, utilizing the technique of plein air painting. Yoshida's six woodblock prints from his North American series were all conceived on one of his early travels and produced from oil or watercolor paintings done onsite, which account for the strong realism in the designs, a quality rarely encountered in Japanese prints.
The roar of these iconic falls is almost audible as Yoshida's masterful design is rendered in exquisite realism. Yoshida immortalizes his dramatic design with a lifelike spray that emanates from the falls and spreads out from the center toward the viewer. It is interesting to note Yoshida captured the falls as one would have originally encountered them, in their natural force, prior to the regulation of their strength.
In 1954 the Canadian and U.S. government created the International Control Dam to regulate the water channeling through the falls to ease erosion. Since 1954 during daylight hours in the tourist season (April 1 to October 31), there have been 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m3/s) of water flowing over the falls, and during the night and off-tourist season, there is 50,000 cubic feet per second (1,400 m3/s) of water flowing over the falls. Yoshida was fortunate enough to experience the falls in their natural untouched raw power. His print is a lasting legacy to this encounter.
Connoisseur's Note
This impression is an excellent example of the design. Exhibiting fresh, untouched colors, the print looks like it could have been created today. This print features Yoshida’s red jizuri seal, as well as a brush and pencil signature, indicating it was produced under his strict supervision. As a stunning work in excellent condition with a much larger collecting base, it’s no surprise that Niagara Falls is one of Yoshida’s most sought-after works.
