YOSHIDA, Toshi
(1911-1995)
Medium: woodblock


Raised in a rich family tradition of woodblock printmakers, Toshi began drawing as a toddler and completed his first woodblock print as a young teenager. He then studied oil painting at Taiheiyo Art School. Toshi loved to travel and at 20 accompanied his father on a trip to India & Ceylon. He thus began a commitment to travel which continued throughout his life. Toshi Yoshida’s woodblock prints include images from Australia, Africa, India, Canada, the US, and Europe, as well as Japan.

Much like his father, Toshi often chose particularly appealing landscape scenes. They included such romantic locales as Japanese temples, castles and pagoda with plum or cherry blossoms, Mt. Fuji in different seasons, the arching branches of a gnarled wisteria. But in addition, he explored themes quite different from the traditional. Always surrounded with pets, Yoshida did renditions of both domesticated and wild animals from around the world. These included eagles and tigers, crab and tropical fish, gazelles and owls, elephants and Akita dogs, cranes, giraffe and zebra. There are African beasts streaking across the veldt, deer in the snow at Aspen, kangaroos with Ayers Rock in the background, and seagulls roosting on ice floes in the Antarctic.

In the 1960’s Toshi also explored various nonrepresentational images, using his great technical skills to create subtle designs exploring light, texture and form. Over a long and illustrious career, Toshi Yoshida was always committed to sharing with students. He taught at the Art Institute in Chicago and the Mendocino Arts Center, and established a printmaking studio outside of Tokyo that continues to train artists from around the world in traditional printmaking techniques.


Collections:
National Museum of Australia, Canberra
Museum of Modern Art, New York Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
Art Institute of Chicago
Paris National Library, France
MOA Museum, Atami
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Portland Art Museum, Oregon
Seattle Museum of Art
The British Museum, London
Krakow National Museum, Poland
Sydney Museum, Australia