Shiko Munakata

Shiko Munakata was a Japanese wood engraver and painter, who renewed the traditional Japanese woodcut in the 20th century as a representative of the Sosaku Hanga and Mingei movements. He was regarded by many as one of the most significant modern Japanese artists of the 20th century. His art work consisted of oil and ink paintings, prints, ceramics and calligraphy. Munakata aspired to become an oil painter after seeing a Van Gogh sunflower painting on a magazine cover. He later organized a “Western-style” painting group with three former middle-school classmates from Aomori. Munakata first gained international acclaim through his woodcut prints.

Munakata was born into a poor blacksmith’s family and, therefore, had only a basic education. In 1924, he moved to Tokyo in order to become a professional painter. Due to lack of money he had to take humble jobs and his works were rejected by the official Bunten Exhibition. When he was finally accepted in 1928 his main interest had switched from oil painting to woodcutting and printing. He learned the technique from Sosaku Hanga printmaker Hiratsuka Unichi and was immediately successful. His prints were accepted for the Shun’yō-kai as well as for the Kokugakai Exhibitions. In 1935, he became associated with the Japanese Mingei (folk art) movement. During a visit to Kyoto, Munakata was significantly influenced by Buddhist religious art. During the bombing of Tokyo in May 1945, his house and most of his woodblocks were destroyed and subsequently he was evacuated to Fukumitsu, Toyama prefecture until 1951.

After World War II, Munakata continued to produce numerous woodblock prints, paintings in watercolor and oil, calligraphy, and illustrated books. He moved into a new studio in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture and traveled to the United States and Europe in the 1950s. He received awards in Lugano, Switzerland (1952), São Paulo, Brazil (1955) and at the Venice Biennale in 1956. At home, the Japanese government presented him with the Order of Culture in 1970. Munakata died at his home from liver cancer in the same year, when the Munakata Shiko Memorial Museum of Art in his hometown Aomori opened its doors. Of his submitted works, only the print Gōdō kyōsō (Group Run) could be identified.