Birds Colored porcelain by Fujimoto Nodo | Kikuchi Kanjitsu Memorial Tomo Museum
Exhibitions
Fujimoto Yoshimichi (1919-1992) pursued realistic and deep color paintings, and in 1986 was recognized as a holder of the Important Intangible Cultural Property for colored porcelain. He developed the technique of "Yubyo-kasai" to depict the background, using shades of paint to create a three-dimensional motif and to make it look like it is one with the white porcelain surface. The main motif is a bird. The appeal of colored paintings lies in the layered expression created by overlapping paints and glazes, but by depicting a pale landscape like a watercolor painting under the colored painting of a bird, he created a unique expression that is realistic and spreads into the depths of the vessel, yet also has the abstractness of a ceramic pattern.Fujimoto studied craft design at Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts), and after graduating he entered the Ministry of Education's Crafts Technical Training Institute, which was located on the school grounds, to gain practical skills, where he was taught by Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963) and Kato Hashimoe (1900-1968), both of whom would later become Important Intangible Cultural Property Holders for overglaze porcelain. His family had no connection to pottery, and after graduating from the training institute he continued to create his own works while moving around from Tokyo to Gifu, Kyoto, Wakayama, Kagoshima, and other places as Tomimoto's assistant, ceramic designer, and instructor. During his time working at Kyoto City University of Arts (now Kyoto City University of Arts), he participated in the Sodeisha and Modern Art Association, and attracted attention for his ceramic objects, but after becoming an assistant professor at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1962, he gradually began to concentrate on overglaze painting as he created the right environment.This exhibition explores the relationship between the deepening of Fujimoto Noboru's expression and technique through works from the mid-1970s to his final years in 1991, when he developed materials and techniques and worked on colored porcelain.