Ushijima Noriyuki

Ushijima Noriyuki ( Japanese 牛 島 憲 之 ; born August 29, 1900 in Kumamoto , Kumamoto Prefecture ; died September 16, 1997 ) was a Japanese painter in Yōga , i.e. in the Western style, during the Shōwa period .

life and work

Noriyuki, the fourth son of Ushijima Yonetaro, wanted to be a painter from an early age. After graduating from middle school in Kumamoto, he studied at the state art college Tōkyō (forerunner of today's Tōkyō Geijutsu Daigaku ) painting under Okada Saburōsuke and graduated there in 1927.

But dissatisfied with his drawing skills, he attended the Dōshūsha Institute ( 同 州 者 研究 ) and studied drawing plaster casts. He submitted pictures to the Teiten exhibition at this time, but they were all rejected. Then, however, in 1933 his painting “Landscape with a clam pile ” ( 貝 焼 き 場 の 風景 , Kaiyakiba no fūkei ) submitted to the 14th Teiten exhibition was accepted. In 1935 Ushijima received the "K Prize" ( K 賞 ) at the fourth annual exhibition of the Tōtō Society. In the following year he participated in the founding of the Shusen Art Society ( 主 戦 美術 協会 ) and became its member.

In 1942 Ushijima became a member of the Sōgen-kai. In 1946 he submitted to the second Nitten exhibition, he submitted the picture “Hot Noon” ( 炎 昼 , Enchū ), which was particularly appreciated. The picture shows a tree in the foreground in the shimmering light, behind it there is almost nothing, except for a telegraph pole. - In the following year, now with the status “Approved without examination” ( 無 鑑 査 , mukansa ), he showed the picture “Forest” ( 森 , Mori ).

In 1949 Ushijima resigned from the Sogen-kai and parted with all official exhibitions and founded the "Rikki Society" ( 立 軌 会 ) together with Suda Hisashi ( 須 田 壽 ; 1906–2005) and others , which had its first exhibition in the held the same year. After that Ushijima exhibited not only there, but also at international exhibitions, starting with the first "International Exhibition in Japan" ( 日本国 美術展 覧 会 ), on which he showed “Early Spring” ( 早春 , Sōshun ) and other works. At the second São Paulo Biennale he exhibited “Afternoon” ( 午後 , Gogo ) and two other works. In 1954 he showed at the “Exhibition of Contemporary Art” ( 現代 日本 美術展 , Gendai Nihon bijutsu-ten ) “Landscape with a Bridge” ( 橋 の あ る 風景 , Hashi no aru fūkei ).

At this time Ushijima began to work at the University of the Arts in Tokyo, where he worked as a professor from 1956 until he left in 1964. - In 1969 he received the Art Prize of the Minister of Culture ( 芸 術 選 奨 文 部 大臣 賞 , Geijutsu senshō mombudaijin-shō ), in 1975 he received the Order of the Holy Treasure, third class. 1978 was shown in the National Museum of Modern Art Kyōto under the title "The Art of Ushijima Noriyuki" with several hundred works from five decades of his work. They made his style clear, a representation of reality with subdued details, occasionally geometrically formed.

In 1983, Ushijima, like his good friend Koiso Ryōhei , was awarded the Japanese Order of Culture .

Remarks

1. ↑ Teiten ( 帝 展 ) is the abbreviation for the annual state art exhibition ( 帝国 美術 院 展 覧 会 , Teikoku bijutsu-in tenrankai ) between 1919 and 1945.
2. ↑ Nitten ( 日 展 ) is the abbreviation for "Nihon bijutsu tenrankai" ( 日本 美術展 覧 会 ), the successor organization to Teiten from 1946.

literature

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

Web links

• Ushijima's paintings are in the possession of the state museums

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