Suzhou

Date:: 1940
Medium:: Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Format:: Oban
Dimensions:: 27 × 40 cm
Publisher:: Yoshida Studio
Source:: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Typical Price

From Yoshida's later career (1935–1950), these prints show his technical mastery at full maturity. Later-decade prints slightly trail peak-period 1920s works at auction, but jizuri impressions of desirable subjects still command strong prices. Standard jizuri Japanese landscapes follow the dealer benchmark of approximately $2,149; Sacred Bridge, Nikko (1937) sold for $800 at Schmidt's Antiques for a pencil-signed example.

Jizuri (artist-supervised) seal: $1,200–$3,500
Studio edition (no jizuri): $600–$1,800
Posthumous/family workshop reprint: $250–$700

Description

Suzhou, the ancient canal city of Jiangsu Province, offered Yoshida a Chinese landscape that resonated with the waterborne scenery he loved along the Seto Inland Sea. His 1940 print captures the city's characteristic combination of arched stone bridges, whitewashed walls, and still canal water, the whole scene rendered with the atmospheric subtlety of his mature jizuri technique. Yoshida's Chinese subjects are among the less-discussed portions of his oeuvre but demonstrate the same mastery of place and light that defines his Japanese and European work.