Shikou Munakata
Print artist
Major Milestones in Shiko Munakata’s Career
• “I Will Become Van Gogh”: Born into a blacksmith’s family in Aomori, he was deeply moved by Van Gogh’s painting of sunflowers and resolved to become an artist, declaring, “I will become Van Gogh” (in the Aomori dialect, “Wadaba Gohho ni naru”).
• From Oil Painting to Woodblock Prints: He moved to Tokyo in 1924. Initially, he aimed to be selected for the Imperial Art Exhibition with his oil paintings, but after being deeply moved by Sumio Kawakami’s woodblock prints and discovering the beauty of traditional Japanese artistic expression, he shifted his focus to woodblock prints.
• Encounter with the Mingei Movement: He met leaders of the “Mingei Movement” such as Munayoshi Yanagi and Kanjiro Kawai, was deeply influenced by their ideas, and began to project Buddhist spirituality into his works.
• International Recognition: He won the International Printmaking Grand Prize consecutively at the 1955 São Paulo Biennial and the 1956 Venice Biennale. In 1970, he was awarded the Order of Culture.
