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Kazutoshi Sugiura - born 1938

Flowering Iris No.127
copyright Kazutoshi Sugiura

The works of the Japanese artist Kazutoshi Sugiura are unique in the history of the artistic tradition of Japan. His pictures are gems of noble beauty and treasure, which is shown by the gold grounded dreamlike floridity. Despite this focus on a single motif - on flower still lifes - furthermore in realistic presentation, the artists has been successful in winning international reputation.

A Comprehensive Study of Art

Kazutoshi Sugiura was born in 1938 as a child of war, growing up during the reconstruction phase of Japan after the World War II. Sugiura was not interested in the subsequent industrial boom and as a young man chose instead to study art at the public College for Art in Kyoto, where he graduated in 1963. Afterwards he pursued graduate studies in art. Already at this time he was interested in silk screen printing and nihonga - a connection/fusion of traditional Japanese painting with Western oil painting.

He already had such a masterful command of printing techniques that the International Graphic Art Society in New York ordered a set of silk screen prints from him. Kazutoshi had studied classical Japanese painting intensely since 1967. Five years long he engaged himself in material in the Kyoto National Museum of Antiquities, the national museum of art history in Kyoto and there in 1968 he began a 4 year restoration study program focusing on gold grounding and gold framing.

His Own Style

Camellia No. 11
copyright Kazutoshi Sugiura

Kazutoshi Sugiura developed his own style, different from the traditional prints and gold grounded painting. He set his silk screen prints on a ground of gold, conveying a certain archaic and extreme idea of their high worth. What is astonishing is that Sugiura achieved overwhelming sucess at exhibitions after getting his degree with just a single traditional motif: flowers.

There are grand peonies, roses, camellia, chrysanthemum, lilies, irises, cosmos and other flowers, set in every possible color nuances and gold grounded. They are made in the finest detail. The precision is probably archaic. However, the simplicity of the composition, compared to the perfection of the finish and above all the poetry of the impact, make these pictures based on tradition appear contemporary.

Perculiarties in Technique

The works of Kazutoshi Sugiura and his mixed technique consists of three phrases. First the artist applies the sheet of gold on the hand made paper. On top of that he sets his motif in silk screen press. With a stretched strongly woven silk towel he presses on it an abraded texture with lithography-colors. Finally he patinates the gold ground with a misty color in purple, blue or green, whichever lets the gold shimmer like a gem.

Exhibitions and Awards

Plum No. 2
copyright Kazutoshi Sugiura

Sugiura's participation in exhibitions is only incompletely documented. The years of his most important exhibitions are however available.

• 1960 - Individual Exhibition, Yamada Gallery, Kyoto, Japan.
• 1961-63 - Exhibitions of the Japan Print Association, Tokyo, Japan.
• 1978 - Award of the Kyoto Federation of Galleries for nihonga Paintings, Kyoto, Japan.
• seit 1979 - CWAJ Print Show, Tokyo, Japan.
• 1982 - Individual Exhibition, Studio Kimura, Tokyo, Japan.
• 1986 - Tolman Collection, Tokyo, Japan.
• 1988 - Individual Exhibition, Intaglio Printmaker's Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
• 1989 - Modern Japanese Art, Portland Museum, Maine, USA.
• 1993 - Individual Exhibition, Ronin Gallery, New York City, USA.
• 1999 - Canberra National Multicultural Festival, Australia.

Furhter Exhibitions at/in:

• Japan Print Association, Kyoto, Japan.
• Yamada Art Gallery, Kyoto, Japan.
• Wander-Individual Exhibition, Canada.
• London, England.
• Washington, DC, USA.
• Lakeville, Connecticut, USA.
• San Francisco, CA, USA.
• The Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay, California, USA.

Collections

Camellia No. 12
copyright Kazutoshi Sugiura

The prints from Kazutoshi Sugiura are found in several private collections as well as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the British Museum.

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Japanese Art 20th C.