Abstruse

Abstruse belongs to the non-representational phase of Toshi Yoshida's work that began in the early 1950s, a period in which he set aside the landscape and figural subjects of his father's tradition to pursue compositions built from interlocking colour fields, calligraphic gestures, and exposed wood grain. Prints from this group are typically printed from a small number of blocks, with deliberate registration shifts and overprinting used to layer transparent washes of pigment over heavier opaque areas. The grain of the cherry block is often left visible as a textural element, a feature that places Toshi within the broader sōsaku-hanga movement, in which the artist designs, carves, and prints the work as a single creative act. Abstruse and its companions distinguish Toshi's career from that of the Yoshida studio's earlier [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) output, demonstrating his engagement with the international postwar print scene that included Munakata Shikō, Saitō Kiyoshi, and the artists shown at the São Paulo and Lugano biennials, before he returned in later decades to representational wildlife subjects.