Works of Shiko Munakata from Kuraray collection in Kobe
04 Aug '06
3 min read
Cover of Kuraray internal newsletter (1957-1968)
KURARAY CO LTD will celebrate the 80th anniversary of its founding; company will sponsor a first time exhibition of the works of Shiko Munakata, with exhibits lent from its private collection and from the Ohara Museum of Art.
The exhibition will open in Kobe (September) and Tokyo (October). In all, fifty pieces will be on display, including original paintings from the cover of Kuraray's internal newsletter, and paintings on fusuma (sliding paper doors between rooms in Japanese houses) from the collection started by Magosaburo Ohara, the founder of Kuraray.
Many of them are being exhibited for the first time, making this an opportunity that fans of Munakata's work will not want to miss.
The nine pieces being lent by Kuraray are all works by Munakata that have never before been on general exhibition. A series of works with the central motif of the animals in the oriental zodiac shows a free-spirited touch and modern design. They were shown on the cover of the Company's monthly internal newsletter Kurashiki Rayon Renraku Geppou for 12 years from 1957.
The valuable signed originals will be on display at the exhibition. Kuraray's second president, Soichiro Ohara, who defined the Company's destiny with KURALON (vinylon) as Japan's first purely domestic synthetic fiber and textiles business, commissioned vinylon sho hanga-saku from Munakata, and it is said that these great works gave Soichiro the courage to weather a difficult period.
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