{"id":442,"date":"2013-07-10T13:03:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T18:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/?page_id=442"},"modified":"2013-07-11T09:22:55","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T14:22:55","slug":"pa-kou-vang","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/exhibitions-2\/yoshida-evolution-exhibition\/gallery\/dragon-b\/pa-kou-vang\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa Kou Vang"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Real Toshi Yoshida <\/strong><\/h4>\n

As John Koening, from the movie Space: 1999<\/em>, once said, \u201cIt is better to live as your own man than as a fool in someone else’s dream.\u201d\u00a0 This statement is the issue that Toshi Yoshida had to face as a developing artist under the influence of his father, Hiroshi.\u00a0 The Yoshida\u2019s family uses a prominent and traditional style for their artwork. For many years, Toshi silently protested for freedom to choose what he wanted in his own art.\u00a0 Whether it was the theme of his artwork or his personal style, he had to go through his father first.\u00a0 Hiroshi was a demanding father wanting to shape Toshi\u2019s art into a second-generation version of his own, but Toshi secretly opposed this pressure by avoiding ther romanticism that exemplified his father\u2019s work, and choosing subjects different from his father\u2019s landscapes.<\/p>\n

The Yoshida family is almost a one-family art movement.\u00a0 The first artist in the Yoshida family line was Kosaburo Yoshida; he went to a western art school, and his incredible work demonstrates the Italian influence in Japanese art.\u00a0 Kosaburo only had daughters, and among them was Fujio, who was also a talented artist.\u00a0 Nevertheless, Kosaburo adopted as a son whom later became his son in law, the promising young man who became the famous artist Hiroshi Yoshida.\u00a0 Hiroshi worked primarily as a painter until his late forties when he became fascinated with woodblock printing. \u00a0Fujio and Hiroshi had two sons, Toshi and Hodaka, who carried on the family\u2019s artistic line.<\/p>\n

Toshi was born on July 25, 1911 just two months before his older sister Chisato, a three year old girl passed away. For the next fifteen years Toshi lived a lonely life, for he was the only child, until his brother Hodaka was born. According to Hiroshi\u2019s plan, Toshi would become the artist, while Hodaka was meant for a career in science.\u00a0 Sadly, when Toshi was a child he contacted polio meningitis from his nanny\u2019s family, which paralyzed one of his legs.\u00a0 This tragic incident played a big role in Toshi\u2019s life as an artist because as a young boy he was not allowed to play outside with other children.\u00a0 Thus, Toshi spent his free time making art and inventing animal stories. According to Kendall H. Brown, \u201cToshi also routinely sketched with his parents, who taught him the rudiments of life drawing\u201d (73). Toshi was taught at an early age the beauty of art.<\/p>\n

Toshi was the individual that Hiroshi would most deeply imprint with his sense of natural beauty and light.\u00a0 Kandall H. Brown mentioned that Hiroshi was Toshi\u2019s teacher and \u2018most ardent critic, sought to mold Toshi and his art into a second-generation version of himself and his own highly successful naturalism\u2019 (73).\u00a0 This explains why most of Toshi\u2019s artwork is similar to his father\u2019s because Hiroshi wanted Toshi to fellow his technique.\u00a0 Still, it was hard for Toshi to please his father while trying to find and maintain his own identity.\u00a0 Toshi once stated that he chose to put his interest in animals because his father\u2019s interest was in landscape; this was a way to differentiate his work from his father\u2019s.\u00a0 Kandall H. Brown stated that, \u201cviewers who are familiar with Hiroshi\u2019s naturalistic landscapes often see Toshi as an artist who never fully emerged from his father\u2019s shadow\u201d (72).\u00a0 Perhaps it is that Toshi often painted and made prints of many of the same subjects that Hiroshi used.\u00a0 For instance, the two versions of Mt. Rainier, one created by Hiroshi and another created by Toshi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"tsurugisan_morning\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"mt.ranier_winter\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mt. Rainier<\/em> by Hiroshi Yoshida<\/td>\nMt. Rainier in Winter<\/em> by Toshi Yoshida<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

These two images can be mistaken as by the same artist because it is very closely done with a similar media and technique.\u00a0 However, Bob Rhoades points out the differences of these two images by saying, \u201cThe image of the mountain in springtime with lavender covered hillsides caught as a moment of romantic revere by Hiroshi.\u00a0 Toshi’s image is a cold prominence in blues and grays capturing the stark strength of the dominant rock\u201d (Rhoades).\u00a0 Toshi tried to distinguish his work from his father\u2019s by choosing a different season or mood for the image, moving away from the romantic aspects of his father\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Toshi carefully avoided the profound atmosphere and overt romanticism that exemplified his father\u2019s work.\u00a0 In this way, he could distinguish himself while still staying within the style and subject that his father approved of. Brown mentions that, \u201cToshi\u2019s avoidance of dramatic atmosphere and painterly effects marks an opposition to his father\u2019s print style; the resolutely peaceful and non-symbolic subject also seems to reject the nationalistic images that most other Japanese artists were producing\u201d (74).\u00a0 By doing so, Toshi is secretly expressing his independent values through his work.\u00a0 In an interview later, Toshi said, \u201c My father loved the mountains, so I turned to the sea\u201d (75).\u00a0 Toshi could only secretly oppose his father by still keeping his father\u2019s focus on the natural, but choosing a different division of nature.\u00a0 For example, in the image Tokyo at Night: From Ryogoku Bridge<\/em>, Toshi made the image with sharp lines and clear tones.\u00a0 He making the image realistic, yet it has little details within the building.<\/p>\n

\"ryogoku_bridge\"<\/a>From Tokyo at Night: Ryogoku Bridge<\/em> by Toshi Yoshida<\/p>\n

It was not until Hiroshi\u2019s death in 1950 that Toshi could really break away from his father\u2019s demands.\u00a0 In order for Toshi to break away from his father\u2019s naturalism and his past, he resigned from his father\u2019s Pacific Painting Society to join with his brother\u2019s group called Plus.\u00a0 Toshi moved into abstract art because his brother Hodaka, who had also become an artist, influenced him.\u00a0 Abstract art was a new and different style to Toshi.\u00a0 Therefore, he found himself within abstraction.<\/p>\n

Although Toshi Yoshida was strained to become the second-generation version of Hiroshi, his father, he eventually broke away by secretly avoiding romanticism and purposefully contradicting his father\u2019s artistic values.\u00a0 Toshi opposed his father through his artwork with his independent values of what was important to show his audience.\u00a0 The result was a unique type of art where Toshi\u2019s true character came out.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n

Laura W., Kendall H., Eugene M., Matthew, and Koich. A Japanese Legacy: Four<\/p>\n

Generations of Yoshida Family. Minneapolis, Minnesota: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2002.<\/p>\n

Rhoades, Bob. \u201cThe Yoshida Family Show: Three Generations of a Printmaking<\/p>\n

Dynasty.\u201d Mendocino Art Center andArts & Entertainment. 1999. August 1997.<\/p>\n

<http:\/\/www.mcn.org\/A\/mendoart\/ae\/aug97\/yoshida.html ><\/p>\n

Skibbe, Eugene M. Yoshida Toshi: Nature, Art And Peace. Edina, Minnesota: Seascape<\/p>\n

Publications, 1996.<\/p>\n

Statler, Oliver. Modern Japanese Prints. Ruthland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle<\/p>\n

Companey, 1956.<\/p>\n

\n

Back<\/span><\/a> \/ \/ Gallery<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n

Disclaimer<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Real Toshi Yoshida As John Koening, from the movie Space: 1999, once said, \u201cIt is better to live as your own man than as a fool in someone else’s dream.\u201d\u00a0 This statement is the issue that Toshi Yoshida had to face as a developing artist under the influence of his father, Hiroshi.\u00a0 The Yoshida\u2019s … Continue reading “Pa Kou Vang”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":0,"parent":351,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"page-full_width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-442","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/442\/revisions\/633"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}