<b>A WINDOW IN FATEHPUR-SIKRI</b> / Hiroshi Yoshida1931<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

As an avid traveler with an unshakable wanderlust, Yoshida took full advantage of his trips abroad by painting the important historical treasures he visited—all executed in the field, utilizing the technique of plein air painting. Yoshida’s thirty-two woodblock prints from his India and Southeast Asia series were all conceived on one of his travels to the region and are based on oil or watercolor paintings he produced onsite, which accounts for the strong realism in the designs, a quality rarely encountered in Japanese prints.

Three figures sit inside a dimly lit room in the Indian city of Fatehpur Sikri. Light filters through ornately carved lattice windows, whirling through the enclosure like a gust of wind. Yoshida’s masterful sense of light is startling—its presence so pronounced it occupies the work as the central figure while shadows emerge in a rhythmic counterbalance frolicking throughout the composition. It’s not surprising many consider this work the masterpiece of the series and among the artist’s best work.

Connoisseur's Note

The print bears a jizuri seal with a pencil and brush signature, indicating it was produced under Yoshida’s strict supervision. This impression was never framed or displayed for extended periods of time ensuring the colors are in a pristine state of preservation, appearing as vivid today as they were the day the work was produced.