70 Year Post-Mortem - Shunsuke MATSUMOTO Exhibition

Shunsuke MATSUMOTO, born in Tokyo in 1912, spent his childhood in Morioka. He lost his hearing in middle school. He soon came to set his sights on art; at age 17 he returned to Tokyo and continued to draw until his death in 1948.

Directly before the Pacific War, MATSUMOTO put out a paper titled "Ikitemiru Gaka" (Artists giving life a shot) wherein he espoused jiyuu geijutsu, or free art; directly after the war he published "Zen-Nihon Bijutsuka ni Hakaru" (Conferring with the artists of Japan), an essay he sent to painters across the country suggesting solidarity among artists; MATSUMOTO was an artist who had a will and saw it through, and his early death was deeply tragic.

Though his life was short, Shunsuke's works are archived across the country including in Okawa Museum in Kiryu, Iwate Prefectural Museum of Art in Morioka, MoMAT, and Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Art.

Since his 100th birthday in 2012, Toki-no-Wasuremono has held the "Shunsuke MATSUMOTO Exhibition" split between the first half of his life and the last. 6 years later, though it's modest, we are holding "70 Year Post-Mortem - Shunsuke MATSUMOTO Exhibition". This time, we are presenting 10 rough sketches.

●We are publishing a catalogue (Japanese)

『70 Year Post-Mortem - Shunsuke MATSUMOTO Exhibition』
2018
Published: Toki-no-Wasuremono
24 pages
B5
Full color
Text： Shogo OTANI (National Art Center, Tokyo, Art Director)
Images： 16
Design： Okamoto Issen Graphic Design Company

■Shunsuke MATSUMOTO
Born 1912 in Tokyo, grew up in Iwate, Japan. Former name Shunsuke Sato. In 1925, after losing his hearing, he began to have aspirations to becoming a painter. Moving to Tokyo, he learned at Taihei Yogakai Institute. In 1936 he got married and changed his last name to Matsumoto. He named his studio Sogokobo (General Studio) and along with his wife Teiko, created a new drawing and essay magazine, "Zakkicho".

In 1943 he organized the Shinjin Gakai with seven others, including Aimitsu, Aso Saburo, and Terada Masaaki. This society opened three exhibitions. In 1947, along with the members of the Shinjin Gakai, he participated in the Jiyu Bijutsuka Kyokai. In 1948 he became sick and died in his home, Tokyo at the age of 36.

Gallery view