Sea Horses renders these delicate marine creatures with a decorative elegance that bridges natural history illustration and fine art printmaking. Studio editions from the Yoshida workshop generally sell for $300-$800, while jizuri impressions with the self-printed seal command $600-$1,400. Seahorse subjects are unusual in Japanese woodblock printing, and the design's whimsical quality gives it particular appeal for collectors drawn to marine and aquatic themes.
Sea Horses is one of Yoshida's aquatic subjects, the extraordinary creatures — with their horse-like heads, prehensile tails, and upright posture so unlike any other fish — giving him formal material of great graphic distinctiveness. Sea horses were among the most visually unusual marine subjects available to a wildlife printmaker, their combination of animate creature and plant-like stillness, their method of locomotion by tiny dorsal fin, and their upright orientation making them ideal for the close-up portrait treatment that Yoshida applied to his birds and mammals. The underwater setting adds a quality of weightless suspension.
1940
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
Boshu Taikai
1925
Color woodblock print; oban
September 1931
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Sea Horses was created by Toshi Yoshida (吉田遠志).
Sea Horses uses Nishiki-e, Moku-hanga, and Kento, on woodblock print.
Sea Horses was published by Yoshida Studio.
Sea Horses depicts seascapes and animals.
