Koito Gentaro

Koito Gentarō ( Japanese 小 絲 源 太郎 ; born July 13, 1887 in Tokyo ; died February 6, 1978 ) was a Japanese painter and woodcut artist in the Western Yōga style of the late Meiji , Taishō and Shōwa periods .

life and work

Koito graduated in 1911 from the Department of Metalwork at the Tōkyō School of Art ( 東京 美術 学校 Tōkyō bijutsu gakkō ), the forerunner of the University of the Arts . In the same year he began studying painting at the Western Style Department of Painting at the same institution. He left school after three years due to illness.

As early as 1910, when Koito was still studying in the Department of Metalwork, he was able to exhibit a picture at the Ministry of Culture's annual art exhibition, known as Bunten ( 文 展 ) for short . He also exhibited in the following years and was able to win several prizes. After 1918 he showed nothing for a few years, instead concentrating on sketching and painting from nature. Then he began to show pictures again, after the war on the Nitten ( 日 展 ), the successor to the exhibition of the Ministry of Culture. He became a member of the artists' association Kōfū-kai ( 光 風 ) and was appointed to the jury at various exhibitions. In 1959 he became a member of the Academy of Arts and in 1965 he received the Order of Culture .

Koito created his early pictures clearly and meticulously, lifelike images of Japanese scenes. He combined bold and lively coloring with strong brush strokes. His works include “Mohn” ( セ ン ケ ン Senken ; 1937), “Freizeitpark im Winter” ( 雪 の 遊 園地 Yuki no yūenchi ; 1952), “Ferner Donner” ( 遠 雷 Enrai ; 1961) and “Winter in a fishing harbor” ( 漁港積雪 Gyokō sekisetsu ; 1970).

Koito also wrote with a light hand and left a series of collections of essays, such as “Rainbow in Winter” ( 冬 の 虹 Fuyu no niji ; 1948), “The man who talked to the monkeys” ( 猿 と 話 し を す る 男 Saru to hanashi o suru otoko ; 1952) and "Wind God - Thunder God" ( 風神 雷神 Fūjin - Raijin ; 1954).

In 1965, as a Person of Cultural Merit Award and was awarded the Order of Culture .

literature

• Tazawa, Yutaka: Koito Gentarō . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art . Kodansha International, 1981, ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
• Laurance P. Roberts: Koito Gentarō . In: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists . Weatherhill, 1976, ISBN 0-8348-0113-2 .

Web links

• Koito Gentarō in the archive of the Tokyo National Institute for Cultural Heritage (東京 文化 財 研究所 , Tōkyō bunkazai kenkyūjo)

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