Artist: Hiroshi Yoshida
Medium: Original Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: The United States
Edition: First
Date: 1925
Publisher: The Artist - Privately Published
Reference No.: Abe #12
Size: 11 x 16 -1/2 "
Condition: Very fine
Notes:
An early, Japanese edition. Signed in sumi ink Yoshida with artist's seal Hiroshi, with red jizuri (self-printed) seal on left margin, followed by the date Taisho juyonen saku (made in Taisho 14 [1925]), followed by the Japanese title, Naiagura bakufu. For the print, "Niagara Falls", Yoshida effortlessly layers light and dark contrasts of water in the foreground against the soft pink mist drifting upwards towards tufts of pale cotton candy pink and lavender clouds.
In 1924 Yoshida was involved with a traveling exhibition of paintings and prints in America which was organized in an effort to support those artists who were struggling in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake that devasted Tokyo on September 1st in the previous year. Upon his return to Japan in January of 1925, Yoshida established his own printing studio and began production woodblock prints, starting with a series based on compositions from the United States.
Niagara Falls is created by a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three falls is Horseshoe Falls (Canadian Falls), which straddles the international border of the two countries. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie within the United States. Formed by the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America.