A crescent moon over junks with rust-red sails

A thin crescent moon hangs in a blue-green evening sky over the Tone River. A wooded bluff rises across the centre in soft violet-grey, with a few small buildings at its foot, and a low headland runs off to the right. Junks with rust-red sails move on the water — one close in at the centre-left, three or four smaller ones further off — each trailing a long reflection. The river fills the lower half in graded blues worked in fine horizontal lines, with a few pale flecks of moonlight on it.

Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950) came to woodblock printing from Western-style oil and watercolour painting, and the meeting of the two defines his work. He travelled widely before turning to prints — the Alps, the Rockies, India, Egypt and China all enter his subjects — and in 1925 set up his own studio, supervising the carving and printing himself instead of working through a publisher. That control let him print one set of blocks in several colour states, so the same view could be given morning, evening or mist. His prints are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.