Yoshida | A Little Restaurant at Night

吉田博 Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950)

料理屋之夜
A Little Restaurant at Night

1933

木版画 | 纵绘大大判 | 39.3cm x 27.5cm
Woodblock-print | Large Oban tata-e | 39.3cm x 27.5cm

自摺；铅笔亲笔签名；品相近完美
Signed in brush and in pencil, with jizuri seal; fine condition

$2,600

Shin Hanga was the “new print” movement, but much of what it depicted was old—Old Japan, classic Japan, nostalgic Japan. And few images from this genre succeed so wonderfully as those Hiroshi Yoshida designs showing traditional facades at night, always with a recent downpour creating blurry reflections on the rain-slicked street.

Here we see a traditional restaurant, its front illuminated by lanterns, with a kimono-clad woman — almost ghost-like — emerging holding a package wrapped in furoshiki. Perhaps she’s just enjoyed a bowl of noodles, or a grilled fish, and is heading to her nearby home. We can’t help but sense that there is sadness here. Or maybe she is just deep in thought.

Multiple, overlayed printings of ink, in a predominately sepia palette, help create almost magical translucent effects of water and light. Look how the lanterns bathe the bottoms of the wooden eaves in a golden hue, while the roof and indigo sky above are so dark as to be almost indistinct. Almost.

This is no famous site, but, rather, a tiny vignette. It is warm and comforting and lonely all at the same time. Here Yoshida makes the mundane so very romantic indeed.

华灯初上，骤雨稍歇，涌起积水的路面荡漾着微波，倒映着许是东京市内某家料理屋前的层层辉光。木质屋檐下的各色灯笼明亮，小圆窗中透出的屋内光芒使人心生暖意。最右侧的窗台旁，半朵粉云摇曳，许是新采撷下的一枝樱花。店门前，一位身着墨绿衣装，披挂胭脂色披肩的优雅女士正面带浅笑地准备离去。光与影的浪漫，恰好凝结于此刻。

从某种意义上而言，吉田博的绘画技法与莫奈有着异曲同工之妙，皆是以多个人眼捕捉的瞬间为底稿，而后加以整合取舍，最终呈现出一幅完全不同于摄影作品的“印象”之美。那些流动的、摇晃的光影并不完全符合现实，却更适合入眼入心。

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