Fukuzawa Ichirō

The Fukuzawa Museum, Tokyo

Fukuzawa Ichirō ( Japanese 福 沢 一郎 ; born January 18, 1898 in Tomioka ; died October 16, 1992 ) was a Japanese painter in the Western Yōga style of the Taishō and Shōwa periods .

life and work

In 1918 Fukuzawa went to Tokyo and enrolled in the Faculty of Humanities at Tokyo University . Then he decided to become a sculptor and left the university and studied this subject under Asakura Fumio ( 朝 倉 文 雄 ; 1886–1964). From 1924 to 1931 he stayed in Europe, where Fauvism attracted him and he began to paint. Then he was influenced by surrealism , which he admired in Chirico and Max Ernst .

During his stay in Europe, Fukuzawa participated in the founding of the "Independent Art Society" ( 独立 美術 協会 , Dokuritsu bijutsu kyōkai ). The following year he took part in their first exhibition with 37 pictures that he had painted during his time in Europe. With the first really surreal pictures in Japan, he gained some attention. - In 1939 he took part in the founding of the “Society for Artistic Culture” ( 美術 文化 協会 , Bijutsu bunka kyōkai ), but left it in 1949 and exhibited without any ties to an artistic association.

Before the Second World War , Fukuzawa's work was strongly satirical and allegorical. But after the war he traveled frequently to Central America and began to paint simple people from the country in lively colors. In 1978 he was honored as a person with special cultural merits , in 1991 he was awarded the Japanese Order of Culture .

Fukuzawa has had quite an impact on younger artists. Two exemplary works are "Burial" ( 埋葬 , Maisō ) and "Spiritualization" ( 霊 化 , Reika ). - While he was still alive, a specially established foundation took over the studio and neighboring living spaces and converted them into a small museum, the Fukuzawa Ichirō kinenkan ( 福 沢 一郎 記念 館 ), which opened in 1994.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Fukuzawa Ichirō . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 429.
• Japan Foundation (Ed.): Japanese Painting in the Western Style, 19th and 20th Centuries. Exhibition catalog, Cologne, 1985.
• Tazawa, Yutaka: Fukuzawa Ichirō . In: 'Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
• Laurance P. Roberts: Fukuzawa Ichirō . In: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists. Weatherhill, 1976. ISBN 0-8348-0113-2 .

Web links

• Pictures in the Fukuzawa Ichiro Museum

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Fukuzawa is the family name, Ichirō the first name.