Artist: Hiroshi Yoshida
Medium: Original Sumi-e Ink Drawing on Paper
Series Title: Beauties
Edition: First and only
Date: c.1920s
Publisher: The Artist
Reference No.: Uncatalogued Original Drawing
Size: 14 -3/4 x 10 -1/2 "
Condition: Very fine
Notes:
Early brush signature, with two square artist seals. Yoshida adjusted the design by adding a hand with an overlay modification at the center railing. Red collectors seal on reverse.
Unlike his more common mass-produced woodblock prints, this specific artwork is a first and only edition original drawing belonging to his Beauties series. The composition intimately portrays a woman in a traditional kimono seated on a veranda overlooking the bustling Sumida River (Sumidagawa). While Yoshida is famous for his atmospheric woodblock landscape series depicting the Sumida River—such as Twelve Scenes of Tokyo: Sumida River Afternoon—this brush drawing provides a rare, direct glimpse into his foundational ink linework and figurative drafting style before it would ever be translated into carved woodblocks.