Azalea Garden (Jizuri)
by Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950)
Price on request
- Type
- Original woodblock print
- First edition
- 1935
- This edition
- Lifetime edition
- Image size
- 37.3 × 24.7 cm
- Signing
- Hand-signed
- Condition
- Good (see condition notes)
Description
Azalea Garden depicts the garden at Hiroshi Yoshida's home in Tokyo. The azaleas are in bloom, setting the scene in late spring. Yoshida rarely gave human figures prominence in his prints, but in some of those where he did, the figures are members of his own family. The best known is Carp in a Pond, in which a young Toshi Yoshida can be seen sketching. In Azalea Garden, three women sit in the shade at their leisure, possibly drinking tea, one of whom may be his wife, Fujio Yoshida. It is rare for woodblock artists to depict a domestic scene like this, and it is interesting that Hiroshi Yoshida returned to it a few times, often depicting the figures warmly, interacting with one another.
Condition notes
The print is in good condition. The paper has aged, and there are spots at various places in the margins, and some inside the image, mainly in the upper sky, and one in the lower right corner. On the back there is a note in pencil.