The Yoshida printmakers, a Japanese artistic dynasty that includes Yoshida Hiroshi, Fujio, Tōshi, Hodaka, Chizuko, and Ayomi, are celebrated at The Dulwich Picture Gallery in London with an amazing exhibition running until 3rd November.

This remarkable show chronicles the developments of Japanese printmaking over two centuries and highlights three generations of exceptional woodblock print artists exploring abstraction and figuration.

The exhibition opens with The Dulwich Picture Gallery’s visitor book signed by Yoshida Hiroshi when he visited the museum in 1900, an interesting nod to the institution’s history. A pioneer of the shin hanga movement, Yoshida Hiroshi travelled across the globe and gained an international reputation for his woodblock prints of American and European landscapes. The exhibition includes over 20 works by Hiroshi, many of which are on display in the UK for the first time, with highlights including  A Canal in Venice (1925) alongside scenes of the Taj Mahal, India, and the Acropolis, Greece.

Yoshida Ayomi, who is featured in the last room of the show with an impressive site-specific installation depicting scenes of rain and cherry blossom, said: “When I found my grandfather’s signature in the Dulwich Picture Gallery guest book, my heart skipped a beat. What an exciting and intriguing journey it must have been for Hiroshi, then an unknown painter and only 23, traveling from a country so far away. How proud he would be of this family exhibit of six, welcomed 120 years later at this wonderful museum.”

Fujio was married to Hiroshi and travelled with him across the USA and Europe, exhibiting her delicate watercolours of Japan. Upon returning home in 1907, she took part in the first exhibition organised by the Japanese Academy of Arts. A skilled printmaker, Fujio later became known for her significant close-up designs of plants and flowers reminiscent of Georgia O’Keeffe’s modernity.

The exhibition also showcases prints by Hiroshi’s and Fujio’s sons, Tōshi and Hodaka, both of whom brought post-war abstraction to the Japanese printmaking process, inspired by Paul Klee and Miro among other Western artists and movements such as Pop Art.

Yoshida Chizuko, who married Hodaka, was a renowned artist and co-founder of the first group of female printmakers in Japan, the Women’s Print Association. Chizuko often depicted landscapes, nature, and traditional Japanese scenes but she also explored aspects of repetition. Her works were said to have connected popular art movements such as Abstract Expressionism and traditional Japanese printmaking. The exhibition features the subtle vibrant works A View at the Western Suburb of the Metropolis/ Rainy Season (1995) and a piece reflecting her voyage to the Australian coral reef with sublime sea shells and marine life.

The exhibition culminates indeed with an installation of cherry blossom by Yoshida Ayomi, Hodaka’s and Chizuko’s daughter. The youngest member of the Yoshida printmaking family, Ayomi’s practice combines traditional Japanese printmaking techniques with modern elements, often utilising organic materials, and she has been exhibited at major international institutions. This room explores the recurring theme of seasonality in Japanese art and is inspired by the Cherry trees in Dulwich Village, originally taken from the iconic site of Yoshino in Japan, famous for its cherry blossom. The museum goes to the park and vice-versa, another nice nod to the gallery itself and its surroundings.

International and private collection loans are featured in Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking and some of them are on display in the UK for the first time. They are on loan from the Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan.

It’s a must-see show that shouldn’t be missed and another fantastic exhibition presented in parallel to the Dulwich Picture Gallery’s impressive collection comprising Murillo, Rembrandt and Canaletto among other masters.

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Images: Fuji, by Yoshida Hiroshi, and Yoshida Ayomi pictured in Cherry Blossom, 2024, the installation at Dulwich Picture Gallery.