Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking at the Dulwich Picture Gallery

From 19 June to 20 October 2024, the Dulwich Picture Gallery presents the exhibition “Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking”

Source: Dulwich Picture Gallery · Image: Yoshida Hiroshi, “Kumoi Cherry Trees”, 1926. Courtesy Fukuoka Art Museum.

Dulwich Picture Gallery brings together artworks by the Yoshida family, a Japanese artistic dynasty including Yoshida Hiroshi, Fujio, Tōshi, Hodaka, Chizuko and Ayomi. The first of its kind in the UK – and Europe more widely – this exhibition will shine a spotlight on three generations of woodblock print artists and trace the evolution of Japanese printmaking across two centuries.

Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950)

The exhibition opens with work by Yoshida Hiroshi, one of Japan’s greatest artists. A pioneer of the shin hanga movement, he travelled across the world and gained an international reputation for his woodblock prints of American and European landscapes. New research provides an insight into Hiroshi’s time in London, including his visit to Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1900, and his signature in the Gallery’s visitor book, along with his diaries, serves as an intimate starting point for the show.

Yoshida Fujio (1887–1987)

Works by Yoshida Fujio, a renowned watercolourist, painter and printmaker, is exhibited in the UK for the first time. Fujio was married to Hiroshi and travelled with him across the USA and Europe, exhibiting her delicate watercolours of Japan to acclaim. Upon returning home in 1907, she took part in the first exhibition organised by the Japanese Academy of Arts. A skilled printmaker, Fujio later became known for her iconic close-up designs of plants and flowers.

Yoshida Tōshi (1911–1995) and Yoshida Hodaka (1926–1995)

The exhibition also showcases prints by Hiroshi’s and Fujio’s sons, Tōshi and Hodaka, both of whom brought post-war abstraction to the Japanese printmaking process.

Yoshida Chizuko (1924–2017)

Yoshida Chizuko, who married Hodaka, was a renowned artist and co-founder of the first group of female printmakers in Japan, the Women’s Print Association. Chizuko often depicted landscapes, nature, and traditional Japanese scenes but she also explored aspects of abstraction and repetition.

Yoshida Ayomi (b. 1958)

The exhibition culminates with a new site-specific installation of cherry blossom by Yoshida Ayomi, Hodaka’s and Chizuko’s daughter. The youngest member of the Yoshida printmaking family, Ayomi’s practice combines traditional Japanese printmaking techniques with modern elements, often utilising organic materials, and she has been exhibited at major international institutions.