Artist: Hiroshi Yoshida
Medium: Original Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: The Southern Japan Alps
Edition: First
Date: 1928
Publisher: The Artist - Privately Published
Reference No.: Abe #127
Size: 10 -1/2 x 15 -3/4 "
Condition: Very fine
Notes:
Signed and titled in pencil, with the artist's brush signature and red chop. Jizuri seal in the upper left margin. "From the Summit of Komagatake" (Komagatake sanchō yori) is one of the most technically accomplished works of the twentieth-century shin-hanga movement.
This print is the first design in Yoshida's celebrated six-part portfolio titled, The Southern Japan Alps Series. The work depicts a breathtaking, high-altitude view looking out over a sea of clouds from the peak of Mount Komagatake. In the distance, the majestic silhouette of Mount Fuji cuts through the horizon. The only hint of human life is a tiny, isolated hut perched on the foreground mountain crags.
Yoshida was an avid mountaineer who climbed with heavy gear to paint directly from nature. To recreate this scene as a woodblock print, he utilized 6 separate wood blocks and 23 distinct printing impressions to achieve the delicate, fluid gradients of the shifting cloud layer. He was especially fascinated by the beauty of clouds in their continued flux.