Fujio Yoshida

Who was Fujio Yoshida?

Fujio Yoshida was a Japanese artist. She was the first female artist among the Yoshida family artists.

She was the daughter of artist Kasaburo Yoshida and his wife Rui Yoshida. She married artist Hiroshi Yoshida. Trained from an early age in the Western-style, she went on to create both naturalistic and abstract watercolors, oils, and woodblock prints. Her paintings of enlarged flower parts are sometimes, and perhaps incorrectly, associated with Georgia O'Keeffe’s work.

Her father and mother had a family of four girls, but to begin with no son was born to carry on Kasaburo’s work as a Western-style artist. As a result Kasaburo adopted his most talented student, Hiroshi Ueda. A few years later a son was born, but Hiroshi was so favored by his adoptive father that he retained his status as first son. After Kasaburo died, Hiroshi enrolled Fujio in some of the best Western-style studios in Tokyo. As often happened in Japan, Hiroshi then in 1907 married Fujio.

Hiroshi and Fujio traveled together to the United States in 1903-05. They held their first brother and sister exhibition in Providence, Rhode Island. Only 16 years old, Fujio was an instant American art-world phenomenon, admired for her beauty and exotic kimonos, but even more so for her graceful watercolor scenes of Japan. Shows in other East Coast cities followed. She sold almost as many pieces as Hiroshi on that trip and on subsequent trips in 1907 and 1923-25. Each trip included travel around the world on the way back to Tokyo. She then entered Bunten exhibitions and received honors. She exhibited with Taiheiyō-Gakai and helped establish Shuyōkai, the art society for women.