From Yoshida's landmark 1925 European tour, the Matterhorn is among his most dramatic alpine subjects. The European series of 11 prints represents the pinnacle of his international work — The Town of Lugano from the same series set the artist's auction record at $167,144. Day/night variants both attract strong bidding at major houses.
The Matterhorn's distinctive pyramidal peak rises 4,478 meters above the border of Switzerland and Italy, one of the most recognizable silhouettes in the Alpine world. Yoshida encountered it during his 1925 European tour and translated its drama into the woodblock medium with remarkable fidelity — the jagged rock faces, the perpetual snowfields, the blue of the high-altitude sky. His training in Western academic painting gave him tools for rendering such subjects that most Japanese printmakers of the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) period lacked, and the result is a mountain print of exceptional authority.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Matterhorn was created by Hiroshi Yoshida (吉田博) in 1925.
Matterhorn was published by Yoshida Studio (1925).
Matterhorn depicts landscapes, snow scenes, and mountains.
Matterhorn measures 51.4 × 36.5 cm (Oban format).
