Toshi Yoshida

1911-1995

Seashore

self-carved, self-printed woodblock print; titled, numbered, signed, and dated in pencil on the bottom margin, Seashore, 10/100, Toshi Yoshida 1962

oban tate-e 16 1/4 by 11 in., 41.2 by 28 cm

Oliver Statler quotes Toshi Yoshida regarding comparing the subjects of his work with those of his father: "My father loved the mountains...so I turned to the sea." Toshi painted a series of underwater scenes in oil, and then a group of paintings depicting microscopic organisms living in seawater. From the artist's perspective: "From these paintngs it was an easy - I suppose inevitable - step to abstraction," reflecting that though he knew his father would never approve, "I could not ignore the movement of the times and I began to break away from my former realistic approach two or three years after the war."

Provenance: Yoshida Family Collection

(inv. no. C-3622)

price: $1,200