Cardinals

A pair of cardinal birds — the brilliantly red North American songbirds that became one of Yoshida's most beloved subjects — are depicted here in a composition that balances the males' vivid scarlet plumage against winter branches or flowering twigs. Yoshida's cardinal prints are among his most celebrated works, the birds' intense color and crisp form making them ideal subjects for the woodblock medium's capacity for precise color articulation. The composition follows the haiga-influenced tradition of bird-and-flower prints while updating it with the naturalistic observation of a twentieth-century wildlife artist.