Satō Kei

Satō with his wife Yoshiko

Satō Kei ( Japanese 佐藤 敬 ; born October 28, 1906 in Ōita ; died May 8, 1978 ) was a Japanese painter of the Yōga direction during the Shōwa period .

life and work

Satō Kei was born in Ōita, where he attended Ōita Prefecture Middle School (now Ōita Prefectural Ueno-ga-oka Senior High School). During his school days, under the influence of his drawing teacher Yamashita Tetsunosuke, he decided to become a painter. From 1926 he attended the department for western painting of the Tōkyō bijutsu gakkō (東京 美術 学校). In 1929 his picture "若 き 男 の 像" (Wakaki otoko no zō: portrait of a young man) was selected for the Teiten exhibition that year.

In 1931 Satō graduated from the art school in absentia: he had gone to France the year before, where he stayed until 1934. During this time he showed his pictures both in the Salon d'Automne in Paris and on the Teiten, where he received a prize in 1932 for the painting "ル ク ル ン" (Ru kurun, Le clown). In 1936 he participated with Inokuma Gen'ichirō , Koiso Ryōhei , Wakita Kazu and others in the founding of the "新 制作 協会" (Shinseisaku-kōkai, New Creative Association), where he separated from the state-organized exhibitions. From that time on he exhibited as a member of the association, especially there.

In 1941 Satō traveled to Central China as part of the Army Press Corps, but was then sent to the Philippines in 1942 at the request of the Navy, where he made drawings that document the war. After the end of the Pacific War , he returned to his contemporary-modern style of the pre-war period. In 1952 he went back to Paris and stayed in France. In 1956 his works were on view at the Salon de Mai , and in 1959 he had a solo exhibition at the Jacques Massol Gallery in Paris.

Satō's style evolved towards abstraction over time. At the 13th Venice Biennale in 1960 he showed works such as "凝結 土" (Gyōketsudo, Frozen Earth; 1958), "睡眠 化" (Suiminka, sleep; 1959) and "風化" (Fūka, Wetter; 1960). When he visited Japan in 1978 to see his aging mother, he suddenly died of a heart attack. He was buried in the family grave in Beppu.

Remarks

1. ↑ Teiten ( 帝 展 ) is the abbreviation for the annual state art exhibition ( 帝国 美術展 覧 会 , Teikoku bijutsu-in tenrankai ) between 1919 and 1935. The predecessor from 1907 to 1918 was called Bunten (文 展) for Mombushō bijutsu tenrankai ( 文部省 美術展 覧 会 ), the successor from 1936 to 1944 was preceded by a shin (新) for “new”. After 1945 the exhibition was continued as Nitten (for Nihon bijutsu tenrankai (日本 美術展 覧 会)).

literature

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

Web links

• Satō: Pictures in the Oita City Museum
• Satō: "Attack on Clark Air Base", 1942
• Satō: The piano

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