Hummingbirds and Fuchsia

Hummingbirds and Fuchsia is one of Yoshida's most jewel-like prints, the tiny birds' iridescent plumage and the drooping bells of the fuchsia flower creating a composition of concentrated visual richness. Hummingbirds — found only in the Americas, where Yoshida traveled extensively — gave him a subject that combined the haiga bird-and-flower tradition with wildlife observation of a distinctly non-Japanese fauna. The birds' size, speed, and metallic coloring presented distinctive challenges to the woodblock medium, challenges Yoshida met with his characteristic technical mastery.