Hope
Hope, Toshi Yoshida, woodblock print, 1967
If forced to summarize Toshi Yoshida’s work in one word it would be ‘innovative’. He forever pushed his woodblock medium to the edge. Both of Toshi’s parents, Hiroshi and Fujio, were artists who added printmaking to their range of work. Hiroshi had his own art studio where Toshi first began making woodblock prints that resembled his father’s work. After Toshi’s father died in 1950, Toshi began focusing more on abstract prints than on the Yoshida landscape tradition. From 1952 to 1975 Toshi designed more than 250 abstract prints. All of his abstract prints varied widely and the graphical themes developed over time. For example, “Hope” 1967, is a powerful example reminiscent of microscopic single celled organisms and macro celestial designs simultaneously. The subject matter is relatively minimal. The force is in the texture, color and exploration of the line. The variation of graphical themes really emerges in “Hope.”
Caroline Wilkman and Latravis Henry