Yoshida Chizuko is known for her abstract woodblock prints and her advocacy on behalf of women artists. Yoshida experimented with various modern art styles, including abstract expressionism, op art, and minimalism, and her work is characterized by her use of bright colors and dynamic compositions. Major recurrent themes in her work include the sea, butterflies, and music. She was born in Yokohama, Japan, and began her art career as an abstract oil painter. She studied painting with Kitaoka Fumio (1918–2007) and attended classes at the Hongō Art Institute. She participated in numerous art societies, including the Taiheiyōgakai (Pacific Painting Society), the women’s oil painting group the Shuyōkai (Vermillion Leaf Society), and Okamoto Tarō’s (1911–1996) avant-garde group the Seiki no Kai (Century Society). Yoshida shifted her practice to printmaking in the early 1950s after exposure to the medium in Kitaoka’s studio and her marriage to printmaker Yoshida Hodaka (1926–1995). She attended some of the last meetings of Onchi Kōshirō’s Ichimokukai (First Thursday Society). Yoshida was a member of the Nihon Hanga Kyōkai (Japanese Print Association), and she cofounded the women’s printmaking group, the Joryū Hanga Kyokai (Women’s Print Association, 1956–65), to create professional opportunities for women artists in a male-dominated field.
