Asō Saburō

Asō Saburō ( Japanese 麻 生 三郎 ; born March 23, 1913 , in Tokyo ; died April 5, 2000 ) was a Japanese painter of the Yōga school of the Shōwa period .

life and work

Asō was born the third son of a coal wholesaler in Tokyo. In 1930 he graduated from Meiji Gakuen Middle School (today: Meiji Gakuen High School) and began studying at the "Dōshūsha Research Center for Western Painting" ( 同舟 舎 洋 画 研究所 , Dōshūsha yōga kenkyūjo ). After graduation there he studied with the Taiheiyō Gakai ( 太平洋 画 会 ), where he befriended Matsumoto Shunsuke and Sonoda Takeshi . He left the Taiheiyō Gakai again and took part in exhibitions of the "Maee Group" and the Ecole du Tokyo .

In 1938 he traveled to Europe, saw France, Belgium and Italy. After the exhibition of the “Independent Art Association” in 1939, he participated in the founding of the “Art Culture Association”, where he was able to show his pictures in the first exhibition the following year. He showed the "portrait of a youth" ( 青年 象 , Seinen zō ; 1940) and "Soup eating man" ( ス ー プ を 飲 む 男 , Sūpu o nomu otoko ; 1941). In 1943 he founded, together with Matsumoto Shunsuke, Ai Mitsu and others, the "Association of New Artists", an artist group that held exhibitions that opposed fascism.

After the Pacific War , Asō participated, together with members of the Association of New Artists, in the "Association of Free Artists". There he showed a series of pictures, such as “Child” ( 子 供 , Kodomo ; 1947), “Mother and Child” ( 母子 , Boshi ; 1948), “Nude” ( 裸 , Hadaka ; 1950) and “One Person” ( 人 , Hitori ; 1952). These examples depict psychological depths in dark brown tones. - In 1959 Asō was honored at the 5th international art exhibition, the "Tōkyō Biennale". - From 1961 he started a series under the name “Red Heaven” ( 赤 い 空 , Akai sora ), in which he enclosed human figures almost abstractly in red or gray space. In 1952 he became a professor at the Musashino Art School . In 1964 he left the Association of Independent Artists and concentrated on solo exhibitions.

Asō was under the influence of Surrealism in his early years, and his works took a special position among Japanese artists. His representative works include “Akt A” ( 裸 A , Hadaka A ; 1950), “Ein Person” ( 人 , Hitori ; 1951), “Zwei Personen” ( 二人 , Futari ; 1962) and “Lebenszeichen” ( 生 き てい る 気 配 , Ikiteiru kehai ; 1978).

literature

• Tazawa, Yutaka: Asō Saburō . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
• Tokyo-to bijutsukan, Kyoto-shi bijutsukan, Asahi Shimbun (ed.): Kindai Nihon bijutsu no ayumi ten. Exhibition 1979.

Web links

• Self-Portrait, 1937 , National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Asō is the family name, Saburō the first name.