Hasuda Shūgorō

Hasuda Shūgorō ( Japanese 蓮 田 修 吾郎 ; born August 2, 1915 in Kanazawa ( Ishikawa Prefecture ); died January 6, 2010 in Kamakura ) was a Japanese blacksmith.

Live and act

Hasuda Shūgorō graduated from the "Tōkyō bijutsu gakkō" (東京 美術 学校), a forerunner of today's " University of the Arts Tōkyō " , in 1938 . He then trained under the metal artist Takamura Toyochika (高 村 豊 周; 1890-1972) and showed his works at exhibitions such as the "Jissai kōgei bijutsu-ten" (実 在 工 芸 美術展). He dealt with the interaction between metal sculpture and architecture.

At the exhibition of the 5th "Nihon bijutsu-in tenrankai" ("Nitten" for short) in 1949 Hasuda was able to show his objects for the first time. In 1951 he was awarded the Asakura Special Prize (日 展 特 選 朝 倉 賞, Nitten tokusen Asakura-shō) for his sculpture "Trophy" (ト ロ フ ィ ー). In 1952 he became a juror for the exhibition and in the same year he participated in the founding of the "Society for Creative Arts and Crafts" (創作 工 芸 協会, Sōsaku kōgei kyōkai).

In 1953 Hasuda's work "Bronze Wall Screen Black Panther" (黒 豹 鋳 銅 ス ク リ ー ン, Kurohyō chūdō skurīn) was awarded the Nitten-Hokuto Prize (日 展 北斗 賞), in 1959 he was awarded for “Bison and Nymph” (野牛 と ニ ン フ, Yagyū to ninfu) the price of the minister of culture (日 展 文 部 大臣 賞 を 受 賞). In 1961 he participated in the founding of the (日本 現代 工 芸 美術 家 協会) and received in the same year for "Quake of the forest" (森 の 鳴 動, Mori no neidō) the prize of the Academy of Arts .

In 1975 Hasuda became a professor at his alma mater, which he honored as "Meiyo Kyōju" when he retired, and a member of the Academy of Arts . In 1976 he founded the "Japanese Research Institute for Metalwork" (日本 金属 造型 研究所, Nihon kinzoku zōkei kenkyūjo), which was followed in 1978 by the “Exhibition Series of Metal Artists” (金属 造型 作家 展, Kinzoku zōkei sakka-ten). Exhibitions in Germany and other countries followed.

In 1981 Hasuda created the memorial "Cross Bridge to the Four Islands" (四 島 の か け 橋, Yontō no kakehashi) at Cape Nosappu (納沙布 岬) in the city of Nemuro for the four islands immediately adjacent to Hokkaidō, which, according to Japanese opinion, were wrongly annexed by Russia. The memorial is an example of the artist's huge objects. However, he mainly created small-format bronze objects.

In 1982 Hasuda received the Federal Cross of Merit , in 1987 he was honored as a person with special cultural merits and in 1991 he was awarded the Order of Culture .

Remarks

1. ↑ The "Nihon bijutsu-in tenrankai" ( 日本 美術展 覧 会 ) was the successor to the exhibition series of the state annual exhibition series for arts and crafts until 1945.
2. ↑ Meiyo Kyōju (名誉 教授) is occasionally rendered in German as "Professor emeritus". But in contrast to this title, which is automatically used on retirement, this is a special award only occasionally granted in Japan.
3. ↑ These are the islands of Kunashiri , Etorofu , Shikotan and the Habomai archipelago .

Web links (images)

• "Break bridge to the four islands"

Web links

• Hasuda Shūgorō's biographies in the Kotobank, Japanese

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