Aka no kabe (Red Wall), Hodaka Yoshida

Artwork Overview

Hodaka Yoshida, Aka no kabe (Red Wall)
Hodaka Yoshida, Aka no kabe (Red Wall)
Hodaka Yoshida
Aka no kabe (Red Wall)
1992
Hodaka Yoshida, artist
1926–1995
Aka no kabe (Red Wall), 1992
Where object was made: Japan
Material/technique: woodcut; photo intaglio
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 1115 x 1720 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 43 7/8 x 67 11/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 1205 x 1805 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 47 7/16 x 71 1/16 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 48 1/4 x 72 1/4 x 1 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: R. Charles and Mary Margaret Clevenger Fund
Accession number: 2008.0042
Not on display
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Exhibition Label: "Echoes of Human Migration in the Collection of the Spencer Museum of Art," Mar-2010 In the last decade of Yoshida Hodaka’s artistic career, he created monumental prints that depicted the surface and texture of walls found in cities across the world. This image of a wall in Mexico incorporates elements from traditional Japanese artistic techniques to comment on the colonial conquest of Mexico. For example, Hodaka employs Japanese woodblock techniques for the background, a red that in Chinese means “blood,” and a gold-leaf that references both Japanese architectural interiors and the treasure sought by the conquistadors. Exhibition Label: “Textures of Interpretation: Meaning and Materiality in Global Contemporary Art," Jan-2010, Sooa Im In the last decade of Yoshida Hodaka’s artistic career, he concentrated on creating monumental prints that depicted the surface and texture of walls. These prints represented his fascination with urban scenery found in cities across the world. Light-sensitive polymer plates allowed Hodaka to replicate the details of the wall, yet he employed traditional Japanese woodblock techniques for the bright red background and gold splashes. In spite of its urban themes, the Red Wall touches on traditional sensibilities. An interest in combining metallic-like gold leaf with more tarnished features may be found in the painted screens and sliding doors that adorn traditional Japanese architectural interiors.

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 213 Mar-2010, Sooa Im, Asian Art Intern I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. Born to a famous printmaking family, Yoshida Hodaka was one of the first Japanese artists to introduce abstraction to the realm of traditional wood-block prints. Made three years before his death, Hodaka's large 1992 print in the Spencer collection entitled Red Wall reflects his fascination with urban scenery across the world and the deeper cultural meanings it can carry. Hodaka used light sensitive polymer plates in order to replicate the details of an actual wall he photographed in Mexico. The red he employed for the dominant areas of the wall is close to what he called sha, an old Chinese word for blood red or earth red, and here it may symbolize the bloodshed of native people in Mexico by Spanish conquerors. Over this tarnished red tone, Hodaka splashed metallic color suggesting gold leaf. His mixture of photographic realism, colorful wood-block printing, and historical references allows deeper social and cultural meanings to emerge from the surface of this work. With thanks to Sooa Im for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.