Collection
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Title
Plum blossom
1990
Artist
YOSHIDA Chizuko
Japan
1924 -

About
Born in Yokohama, Yoshida Chizuko commenced her career as an oil painter, initially studying under Fumio Kitaoka (Acc.no. 435.1993) before she went to Manchuria and was evacuated from Tokyo during the war. After the war she resumed oil painting until she met and married Yoshida Hodaka who taught her printmaking. Like him, she has moved from using only woodblocks for her prints, to include other techniques.
Her prints are distinguished by the obsessive treatment of a single subject, organised in bands of varying density and colour intensity. Often butterflies are her subject; in this print she has chosen the popular subject of plum blossoms which for a Japanese viewer is rich in emotive and poetic associations. Plum blossoms symbolise early spring, the transition of the seasons, and the poignant transience of life.
Jackie Menzies, Contemporary Japanese Prints: The Urban Bonsai, 1992, pg. 100.
Details
Alternative title
Kôhaku-bai
Date
1990
Materials used
woodcut and photo-engraving
Edition
5/75
Dimensions
102.0 x 42.0 cm image; 107.5 x 50.0 cm sheet
Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., pencil "Chizuko Yoshida 1990".
Credit
Gift of the artist 1993
Location
Not on display
Accession number
477.1993

Place
Where the work was made
Japan
Shown in 1 exhibition
Exhibition history
The Urban Bonsai:
- Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane 04 Mar 1992–04 May 1992
- National Art Gallery, Wellington, Wellington 20 Jun 1992–09 Aug 1992
- Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch 12 Sep 1992–29 Oct 1992
- Manawatu Art Gallery, New Zealand 13 Nov 1992–10 Jan 1993
- The George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne 18 Mar 1993–25 Apr 1993
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 08 May 1993–01 Aug 1993
- Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Emu Plains 11 Mar 1994–24 Apr 1994
- Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra 19 May 1994–19 Jun 1994
- Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown 15 Jul 1994–21 Aug 1994
- Moree Plains Gallery, Moree 11 Nov 1994–24 Dec 1994
- Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, Murwillumbah 01 Feb 1995–05 Mar 1995
Referenced in 1 publication
Bibliography
Jackie Menzies, Contemporary Japanese Prints : The Urban Bonsai, Sydney, 1992, 100, 112 (colour illus.). cat.no. 72