Flowering Kale (Habotan)

吉田ふじを Yoshida Fujio, artist

1887–1987

Flowering Kale (Habotan), 1953

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 377 x 247 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 14 13/16 x 9 3/4 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 405 x 270 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 15 15/16 x 10 5/8 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Lucy Shaw Schultz Fund

Accession number: 2023.0001

On display: Marshall Balcony

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Brush, Block, and Blood: Three Generations of Yoshida Women Printmakers

As seen in these three prints, the technical constraints of woodblock printing led Fujio to reinterpret floral subjects through simplified, linear forms. Moving away from painterly depth, she embraced the expressive potential of line, color, and rhythm. The resulting compositions—defined by flattened planes and bold contours—radiate a quiet yet insistent vitality, as if each bloom were illuminated from within. Through this process, Fujio discovered a new visual language that merged modern abstraction with natural form. Her stylized flowers convey both harmony and dynamism, capturing not the appearance of nature, but its underlying pulse—a renewal of creative energy that mirrored her own artistic resurgence in the early 1950s.