Okuda Genso

Okuda Gensō ( Japanese 奥 田 元 宋 , real name with the same reading: 奥 田 厳 三; born June 7, 1912 in Yawata, Hiroshima Prefecture ; died February 15, 2003 ) was a Japanese painter of the Nihonga direction during the Shōwa period .

life and work

After Okuda had already got lessons in oil painting in middle school, he went to Tokyo, where he was a student of Kodama Kibo in 1931 (児 玉 希望; 1898–1971). He also designed plays, but then returned to painting. He received his first award at the Shin-Bunten exhibition in 1931 and an even more important one at the 1938 exhibition. He continued to exhibit at the Shin-Bunten and after the World War also at the Nitten exhibition . At the 5th Shin-Nitten exhibition in 1962, he won both the Minister of Education's Prize (文 部 大臣 賞; Mombudaijin shō) and the Japanese Academy of Arts Prize with his picture "磐 梯" (Berg Bandai ) . In 1974 he became a member of the Akademie der Künste and in 1977 director of the Nitten exhibition. He had solo exhibitions in 1946, 1947, 1952, 1964, 1970, 1975 and 1978. - In 1981 Okuda was honored as a person with special cultural merits , followed in 1984 by the award of the Order of Culture .

As a man of many talents, Okuda Tanka studied poetry under Ubukata Tatsue (生 方 た つ ゑ; 1905–2000) and Chinese poetry under Tachigake Rozan and Masuda Airin. His pictures, which mostly deal with mountain landscapes, are characterized by a touch of immediacy and a clear color scheme, often also in red. Typical works are "待 月" (Taigetsu, waiting for the moon; 1949) in the Art Museum of Hiroshima Prefecture and "Gemmei" (darkness; 1974) in the Yamatane Art Museum .

In 2008 the "Okuda Genso-Sayume Art Museum" (奥 田 元 宋 ・ 小 由 女 美術館 が 開館, Okuda Genso-Sayume bijutsukan) was opened in Miyoshi for him and his wife Sayume, a doll designer.

Remarks

1. ↑ Today the district of Miyoshi (Hiroshima) .

literature

• Tazawa, Yutaka: Okuda Gensō . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .

Web links (images)

At the Hiroshima Prefecture Art Museum:

• Okuda: "待 月" - Waiting for the moon (1949)

At the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo :

• Okuda: "磐 梯" - Bandai (1962)

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