Yoshida's rapids subjects belong to his largest format prints — the landmark Rapids (Keiryu, 1928) measured 63.2 × 90.9 cm, with Yoshida carving the stream block himself. That oversize impression sold at Sotheby's for ~$22,250 (GBP 17,780) in May 2023, with an estimate of GBP 10,000–15,000. Oversize and river-rapid subjects carry a 50–100% premium over standard-format prints; a comparable impression is held in the MFA Boston collection.
Mountain rapids — water white with energy, tumbling over and between boulders worn smooth by centuries of current — were among Yoshida's recurring subjects, and this 1928 print brings his sustained engagement with kinetic water to a formal peak. The challenge of depicting fast-moving water in a medium that arrests all motion was one Yoshida approached through compositional strategy: he captures the moment of maximum visual complexity, the spray at the point of impact, the directional flow lines of the current, the contrast between turbulent white water and the dark, still pools in the eddies behind rocks. His training in Western oil painting gave him a vocabulary for this kind of dynamic landscape subject that he translated systematically into the woodblock medium.
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.
Rapids was created by Hiroshi Yoshida (吉田博) in 1928.
Rapids uses Bokashi, Nishiki-e, and Moku-hanga, on color woodblock print.
Rapids was published by Yoshida Studio (1928).
Rapids depicts landscapes.
Rapids measures 86.8 × 57.9 cm (Oban format).
