imgntv

Past Special Exhibition

now
over

2006.04.22 - 06.25

Fumiaki Fukita
Woodcut Print Exhibition

Overview

New Possibilities for Contemporary Prints Discovered in the Art Classroom and the Studio

Fukita Fumiaki creates vivid, exciting prints which combine the contrasting elements of transparency and intensity. He made important innovations in woodblock printmaking with oil paint and rough-grained lauan wood, carving out new territory in contemporary prints. Fukita won international recognition when he was awarded first prize in prints at the Bienal de Sao Paulo in 1967, the third Japanese to win this award, following Munakata Shiko and Hamaguchi Yozo.
Fukita was born in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture in 1926. After World War II, he did pioneering work in arts and crafts education as an elementary school teacher. Most of Fukita's original creative methods emerged from his experiments with art materials with children. He produced an original artistic world as he engaged in the art of printmaking as both an educator and an artist.
Fukita was awarded the Onchi Prize of the Japan Print Association, and he also received prizes at the International Triennial of Original Colored Graphic Prints, Grenchen, Switzerland and the Northwest International Print Exhibition. He won first prize in the print division at the Bienal de Sao Paulo in 1967 for Two Figures in a Field and Breaking Stars. After this he devoted himself to the production of his own prints, creating many large-scale works that expanded the possibilities of woodblock printmaking.
Fukita established the first college printmaking department in Japan at Tama Art University and became the first head of the department. He also served as president of the College Print Association, helping to lay the foundations of print education in Japanese colleges and universities and exerting an important influence on younger generations of printmakers. He is still active as director of the Japan Artists Association.
This large retrospective exhibition of the work of Fumiaki Fukita is being presented by two museums, the Setagaya Art Museum of Art, which is located in the place where he currently resides, and the Tokushima Modern Art Museum, located in the prefecture where he was born.
It includes approximately 200 works of art ranging from his early career as an elementary school teacher to the prize-winning works of the Sao Paulo biennial and the marvelous artistic world he has created in recent years. It explores the original ideas and qualities that enabled Fukita to create new and unprecedented forms of expression and touches on his early work as a teacher of arts and crafts in the postwar period, revealing the total achievement of this artist who devoted himself so wholeheartedly to contemporary prints and art education.

Information

Dates:
April 22 (Saturday) – June 25 (Sunday), 2006 Museum closed on Mondays
Hours:
10:00 A.M.-6:00 P.M. Visitors must enter 30 minutes before closing time.
Place:
Setagaya Art Museum, 1st floor exhibition rooms
Admission:
General 800(640), college and high school students 600(480), junior high and elementary school students / 65 and older 400 (320)
Amount in parentheses applies to groups of 20 or more. Discount available for the handicapped.
Organizer:
the Setagaya Art Museum
Subsidizer:
the Chiiki Sozo Foundation

Overview

New Possibilities for Contemporary Prints Discovered in the Art Classroom and the Studio

Fukita Fumiaki creates vivid, exciting prints which combine the contrasting elements of transparency and intensity. He made important innovations in woodblock printmaking with oil paint and rough-grained lauan wood, carving out new territory in contemporary prints. Fukita won international recognition when he was awarded first prize in prints at the Bienal de Sao Paulo in 1967, the third Japanese to win this award, following Munakata Shiko and Hamaguchi Yozo.
Fukita was born in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture in 1926. After World War II, he did pioneering work in arts and crafts education as an elementary school teacher. Most of Fukita's original creative methods emerged from his experiments with art materials with children. He produced an original artistic world as he engaged in the art of printmaking as both an educator and an artist.
Fukita was awarded the Onchi Prize of the Japan Print Association, and he also received prizes at the International Triennial of Original Colored Graphic Prints, Grenchen, Switzerland and the Northwest International Print Exhibition. He won first prize in the print division at the Bienal de Sao Paulo in 1967 for Two Figures in a Field and Breaking Stars. After this he devoted himself to the production of his own prints, creating many large-scale works that expanded the possibilities of woodblock printmaking.
Fukita established the first college printmaking department in Japan at Tama Art University and became the first head of the department. He also served as president of the College Print Association, helping to lay the foundations of print education in Japanese colleges and universities and exerting an important influence on younger generations of printmakers. He is still active as director of the Japan Artists Association.
This large retrospective exhibition of the work of Fumiaki Fukita is being presented by two museums, the Setagaya Art Museum of Art, which is located in the place where he currently resides, and the Tokushima Modern Art Museum, located in the prefecture where he was born.
It includes approximately 200 works of art ranging from his early career as an elementary school teacher to the prize-winning works of the Sao Paulo biennial and the marvelous artistic world he has created in recent years. It explores the original ideas and qualities that enabled Fukita to create new and unprecedented forms of expression and touches on his early work as a teacher of arts and crafts in the postwar period, revealing the total achievement of this artist who devoted himself so wholeheartedly to contemporary prints and art education.