Hiroshi Yoshida Exhibit at the Shizuoka City Museum of Art

My friend gave me a ticket to see this exhibit. This is the first time I have been out anywhere in a very very long time. I took the train, wore a mask the entire time, and didn't go out to eat or shop or so anything else while I was in the City.

This is the exhibit poster on the train.

This was the sign in the underground walkway.

The museum seemed very safe, with timed tickets to limit the number of people, warnings to remind people to stay distanced, mask wearing requirements, temperature taking, and hand sanitizing. I knew nothing about Mr. Yoshida before going and I was very pleased that I went out to see the exhibit in spite of the delta variant.

A little background: Hiroshi Yoshida was born in September 1876 in Kurume, Fukuoka.  When he was 19 years old he was sent to Kyoto to study under Tamura Shoryu, then later with Koyama Shotaro in Tokyo. He had his first American exhibition at the Detroit Museum of Art in 1899. He traveled around the United States and Europe from 1899 to 1901, selling his watercolors. From 1903 to 1907, he traveled again in the US, Europe and also in North Africa. In 1920 he began designing his first woodcut prints. All of his prints and existing stock were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923.  He returned to the US to raise funds for himself and others.  As he toured the western US, he discovered good prints were wanted in North America. From 1925, he devoted his work to woodblock prints.  He continued traveling, including to the US and Canada, Europe, Egypt, and India in 1930-31; Korea and China in 1936; and in 1938 as an official war artist. His wife Fujio (1887-1987) and two sons Toshi (1911-1995) and Hodaka (1926-1995) were all print artists. Hiroshi Yoshida died in Tokyo in April 1950, at age 73. 

The museum exhibit was divided into about ten sections, with an explanation in Japanese and English at the start of each section.  All other information was in Japanese. The introduction explanations were very interesting and well written.  There was one large photograph of Princess Diana with two of his paintings in her office. 

I was very pleased to see a few of the paintings from the US and more of the ones in Japan were places I have visited and I recognized them. Two of them were views from my town. No picture taking allowed inside the exhibit. Here are a few pictures from the internet.

The last time I came to this museum, I had a coffee in the museum cafe, but not this time.

In the museum shop I did buy a couple of post cards from the exhibit pictures.

My little trip out didn't seem at all normal and maybe it won't ever be normal again.  I did enjoy my trip though.