Britt Meyer
Toshi Yoshida Lioness B paper
A Long History
Japanese woodblock prints have a long, treasured history. In many ways, they are very representative of Japanese art, but they are also much related to the history of Western art. These two different sides of the world developed unique ways of exploiting the medium. Eventually, they met and influenced each other. Out of this collaboration, modern woodcuts can take pieces of both traditions, melding them into a harmonious whole. Toshi Yoshida is a contemporary Japanese artist who does just this. Through his body of work, this melding effect is seen very readily, and one terrific example is Lioness B, from the larger woodcut, Peaceful Wild Animals. (Fig. 1)
A Brief History of Japanese Woodcuts
Printing is generally considered to be a Chinese invention, but the earliest surviving example of printed text is Japanese. The empress Shotoku declared that a million Buddhist text needed to be created, and printing was used to speed up this process. This was in 764 A.D. In 985, the tripitaka, a Buddhist canon, was brought from China. Japanese monks became interested in this medium again, and the Buddhist text was printed in Japan in 1088. Woodblock illustrations appeared about 100 years later (Earle, 4). Buddhism influenced woodcuts, and many illustrations served to emphasize Buddhist texts. Technology around the 1700’s led to color prints being created (Earle, 5)
Japanese woodcuts are closely associated with the ukiyo-e tradition. This word means “pictures of the floating world,” and refers to the woodcuts of the entertainment district. They were very popular in the Edo period (Mason, 402). Woodcuts have a history of being accessible to the common man. Since they could be mass produced, they were affordable for almost all economic classes. The subject matter of ukiyo-e pictures is not too intellectual for an uneducated person to understand, in fact, the pictures of the pleasure district might well appeal to both those who can not afford to visit geisha, as well as those who can. Both classes can see through woodcuts a little of what that glamorous world is like.
Historically, three artists worked to create a print: the designer, the block cutter and the printer. The most credit goes to the designer. The printing process involves a rubbing technique, where the paper is placed on the block. This process, along with the soft paper gives Japanese prints a unique texture and depth (Earle, 7).
A Brief History of Western Woodblock Printing
In the 14th century in Europe, there was an increased production of paper which led to printmaking. Up until this point, paper had been imported or made in small quantities, making it too expensive to be a realistic medium for prints. Woodblocks had previously only printed on cloth, but in the 15th century, paper was discovered to be a good medium. It was more efficient to print books with woodblocks instead of writing by hand, and the popularity of woodcuts grew. Just as in Japan, illustrations accompanied the text, eventually becoming their own art form (Stokstad, 648). Western prints differ from Eastern in the way they are printed. In the West, the block is placed on the paper, instead of the paper rubbed on the block (Earle, 7).
One of the greatest Western printmakers was Albrecht Dürer. (See The Hare – Fig. 2) Working during the Renaissance, he used the medium to create finely detailed images, often of a religious nature. During the Romantic era in art (18th and 19th centuries), printmakers such as William Blake, Theodore Gericault, and Francisco de Goya used the medium to create atmospheres of mystery and darkness. They often used other types of printmaking, such as lithograph or etching, but this is brought into a dialogue on woodcuts as they are highly related mediums. A later Western artist, Käthe Kollwitz, (1867-1945) used the medium of woodcut to create highly dramatic, emotional, expressionistic pieces.
Eastern and Western Meet
Commodore Matthew Perry opened up Japan to the West in 1853. With this new development, Westerners started to appear all over Japan, and Japanese items were sent back to the West (Mason, 343).
Woodblock prints are probably one of the first Japanese arts to be understood by the Westerner, according to Seiya Huzikake. This author believes that “our prints first introduced our culture to the rest of the world” (9). Indeed, Western artists such as James McNeill Whistler, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh (Fig. 3), among many others of their time, appreciated the Japanese aesthetic and attempted to recreate it in their own work. This phenomenon is called japonisme. Some characteristics Western artists adopted were “spatial flattening, asymmetrical composition, and monochromatic palette” (Stokstad, 1020).
Japan was influenced as well. The term uki-e is used to describe prints that have achieved depth through a Western-style perspective. This grew in popularity in the nineteenth century (Mason, 402). Both cultures borrowed from each other, learning, copying and creating a unique synthesis of two distinct styles.
Toshi Yoshida
Toshi Yoshida was trained in the Pacific Painting Society Art School, where his father taught. Here Toshi learned a European technique including plaster sculpture, oils, and pencil sketches. Essentially what they taught was a “naturalistic realism modified by impressionism” (Skibbe, 40). Toshi admired the western painter, Gauguin (41).
Toshi generally works in three subject matters: animals, landscapes and abstract, and often puts more than one of these together (Skibbe, 57). Lioness B would be under the animal category, but the complete print of Peaceful Wild Animals uses both animal and landscape genres. Toshi became fascinated with Africa, especially African animals (Skibbe, 67). “In 1972, at the age of 61, he discovered Africa, and for over twenty years he carried on a love affair with that wild and beautiful continent” (Skibbe, 68). Toshi had a peaceful view of life, believing that animals were by nature gentle unless provoked, hence the title Peaceful Wild Animals. He hoped that humans might be so peaceful as the animals he surveyed in Africa (Skibbe, 30).
Eugene Skibbe compares Toshi’s woodcuts to those of Albrecht Dürer, specifically that of his Young Hare. Like Dürer, Toshi does not use pure contour to delineate the subject as many woodcuts do, but they both give minute detail in the body, resembling an engraving in many ways (Deguer, 14-15). This is a western quality evident in Toshi’s prints. However, unlike Dürer, who had assistants to cut the block and print, Toshi completes the process himself (Deguer, 15). It is extraordinary how prolific Toshi was when one considers how much time producing the whole woodcut would take.
Seiya Huzikake sees modern woodcuts of Japan going in two directions: using a traditional look and bringing it conservatively into the modern era, or modeling pieces on Western engravings (67). Toshi Yoshida belongs in the second group. He is very aware of his Japanese heritage, but he also employs many Western techniques successfully into his style. These techniques appear in Lioness B, and the complete woodcut, Peaceful Wild Animals.
The color version of Peaceful Wild Animals shows an African plain landscape, with lions lounging on rocks. In the distance, animals graze. The lions look in different directions under a clear sky. Lioness B shows the middle lion only, crouching, in black and white. The realistic musculature is western. Toshi probably learned this while studying bodies’ forms from life in his schooling. This is radically different, for example, than images of Chinese lions (Fig. 4), who often have unrealistic muscles and expressive faces. These two different approaches exemplify different goals. The traditional representation of lions is meant to convey the power and wonder in the animal. This can be compared to the prints of geisha, which are not “portraits,” but generic pictures of beautiful women. The idea is more important than the true appearance. Toshi’s goal here is to show the lioness as he really sees her. Although the print was not made in the African plains, it appears, Toshi did study from life, and in his travels there took in the landscape and the lions’ appearance, so he could convey a real-life image of Africa, as he saw it. In this piece, the true image is more important than the idea of lion.
A Synthesis
Toshi Yoshida’s background gives tremendous insight into his art. Growing up Japanese and trained as an artist in the Western style, he created woodcuts that give honor to both of his influences. He pays homage to his native Japan, while employing Western techniques, and depicting the wild animals of yet a third continent, Africa. This well-traveled artist was able to create pictures that could show his viewers, through art, that the world is peaceful, and he united the differences of two different traditions to create a beautiful composition.
*The images referenced in the text were unable to be included in this page.
Works Cited
Deguer, Andre. Introduction. The Complete Woodcuts. Revised by Monika Heffels. England: Artline Editions, 1990.
Earle, Joe. An Introduction to Japanese Prints. London: H.M.S.O., 1980.
Huzikake, Seiya. Japanese Wood-block Prints. Trans. M.G. Mori. Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry, 1938.
Mason, Penelope. History of Japanese Art. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005.
Skibbe, Eugene M. Yoshida Toshi: Nature, Art and Peace. Edina: Seascape, 1996.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2002.
Takahashi, Seiichiro. Traditional Woodblock Prints of Japan. Trans. Richard Stanley-Baker. New York: Weatherhill, 1972.
Turk, Frank A. The Prints of Japan. London: Arco, 1966.