![]() Owing to his numerous visits to Buddhist temples in Kyoto, and later on to his move to the spiritual town of Fukumitsu, Toyama during the war, Buddhist religious imagery became prominent in his artworks. ![]() This valuable encounter kept him close to the mingei (folk art) movement and a deep understanding of Buddhism and Japanese culture. In Tokyo, Munakata met Japan’s renowned father of modern design and crafts Sōetsu Yanagi. The reverse side of the artwork, which is normally closed to the public, is presented in the exhibition. Likewise in Kegonmatsu (Divine Pine Trees, 1944), the fierce manipulation of black brush strokes against the white background proves Munakata’s ease in the interplay of contrasts to transform, in the case of this painting, the enormous pine tree into splashes of varied movements. This is exemplified in Oirase River (C) (1932), illustrating bold, single lines that flow like a stream around randomly placed dots. Munakata’s early prints continued to resonate with his personal approach during his Aomori days. He received opportunities to exhibit at the Kokugakai Exhibition in 1936, and another in 1940 when he won the Saburi Award. His individualistic style of expressing nature in abstract and decorative forms, enforced by the thickness and strength of the lines, instantly caught public attention, making him a vital part of the Sosaku Hanga movement. Surrounding himself with painters and printmakers, Munakata gradually diverted his attention to woodblock printing. Despite growing up in an impoverished family, he struggled after four trials to win the Imperial Art Teiten Exhibition in 1928 with his oil painting Zatsu-en (Freestyle Garden). In 1924, at 21 years old, the artist moved from Aomori to Tokyo to further hone his talents and succeed as a professional painter. Iwaki Observatory suggests his apparent tendency towards the naturalistic method of Van Gogh and Cézanne. The realistic rendering of the panorama from the Mt. Hakkoda (1924) depicts one of Munakata’s early paintings, which recounts the climb he and his friends made to Mt. He worked relentlessly on his oil paintings and mingled with well-known painters. His first glance at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers left an irresistible mark that instilled a promise to himself to become the Van Gogh of Aomori. As a young boy in his Aomori hometown, Munakata became easily fascinated by the sparkling colors of the Nebuta festival and local kite illustrations. ![]() Together with Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Aomori Museum of Art, the full retrospective highlights influences of three regions-Aomori, Tokyo, and Toyama-on Munakata’s art philosophy. ![]() The magnificent collection traces the dynamic world of the artist and the diversity of Japanese printmaking. Recipient of the “Prize of Excellence” award at the Second International Print Exhibition in Lugano, Switzerland in 1952, First Prize at the São Paulo Bienal Exhibition in Brazil in 1955, Grand Prix at the Venice Biennale in 1956, and the Order of Culture by the Japanese government in 1970, Munakata gained widespread international recognition that he was called the “world-revered Munakata.”Ĭommemorating the 120th birth anniversary of the artist, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is celebrating his multifarious works of woodblock prints, hand drawings, calligraphy, oil paintings, book covers, and commercial designs in The Making of Munakata Shiko: Celebrating the 120th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth exhibition until December 3rd this year. Aomori native Shiko Munakata (1903-1975) transcended beyond conventional printmaking to the infusion of other media, such as bookbinding, illustration, paper wrapping art, film, and television. (creative print) movement of the 1900s and folk art. In the early 20th century Japan during the Showa period, a unique style of woodblock printing emerged that reflected the shades of the sosaku hanga Japanese traditional art is synonymous with woodblock prints, magnified by the grand masterpieces of Ukiyo-e geniuses Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro, and Kuniyoshi, who all shed light on the artistic minds of the world’s greatest pioneers of Impressionism and Modernism. "The woodcut, unconcerned with good and evil, with ideas, with differences, tells us that it consists of truth alone.” ![]()
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