Umbrella

Umbrella is one of Yoshida's compositions featuring the traditional Japanese parasol or rain umbrella — an object with a long history in Japanese visual culture as both practical implement and decorative motif. The umbrella's circular form, whether a delicate paper parasol or a more robust rain shelter, offered him exceptional compositional possibilities: the geometry of the circle viewed from above or the side, the translucency of paper through which light passes, the richness of colored lacquered ribs. The subject connects the print to the tradition of bijin-ga and genre painting in which the umbrella featured prominently.