was a Japanese potter and a Living National Treasure.

Biography

His family came from

Nara prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

. He received a commission to design a large Japanese-lacquered

zelkova ''Zelkova'' (from Georgian ''dzelkva'', 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia. They vary in size from shrubs (''Z. sicula'') to large ...

shelf called “kingin-sai kazari tsubo” for the ''Ume-no-Ma'' audience room of

Tokyo Imperial Palace The is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda district of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains several buildings including the where the Emperor has his living quarters, the where v ...

. In November 1914, Tomimoto married Otake Kazue (also known as 'Kokichi'), a niece of the artist

Otake Chikuha was a Japanese painter. He was first known for his '' nihonga'' and '' ukiyo-e'' paintings. Although he was a praised figure at the height of his career, he later lost his reputation. He moved onto experimenting with more ambitious styles motiva ...

. Kazue was at one time a member of the feminist literary group Seito (publishers of the magazine of the same name, ''Bluestocking''). A controversial figure in her youth, Kazue had a close relationship (and, it was thought, an infatuation) with Raicho Hiratsuka. It is thought that Tomimoto may have drawn an early draft of the woodblock print which Otake finished and submitted to Seito, which appeared as the cover of the 1913 New Year's issue of Seito magazine. After marrying, the couple moved to Nara, Japan. Tomimoto and Kazue had three children together, but later separated.

Honors

He was a recipient of the

Order of Culture The is a Japanese order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, technology, or anything related to culture in general; recipient ...

. He was also named a Living National Treasure. The

Tomimoto Kenkichi Memorial Museum The opened in Ando, Nara Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefectur ...

was opened in 1974 in

Ando, Nara is a town located in Ikoma District, Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of April 1, 2017, the town has an estimated population of 7,523 and 3,395 households. The density is 1700 persons per km², and the total area is 4.33 km². Geography Lo ...

. His work is also kept in several other museums worldwide, including the Gifu Prefectural Ceramics Museum, the

Ohara Museum of Art The in Kurashiki was the first collection of Western art to be permanently exhibited in Japan. The museum opened in 1930 and originally consisted almost entirely of French paintings and sculptures of the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection h ...

, the Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egypt ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall or ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama The is the first public modern art museum in Japan. The museum consists of three halls: Kamakura, Kamakura annex, and Hayama. Outline of halls Kamakura hall (main building) The hall is located in Yukinoshita, Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, ...

, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...

, the

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo The in Tokyo, Japan, is the foremost museum collecting and exhibiting modern Japanese art. This Tokyo museum is also known by the English acronym MOMAT (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). The museum is known for its collection of 20th-cent ...

, the

National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto The is an art museum in Kyoto, Japan. This Kyoto museum is also known by the English acronym MoMAK (Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto). History The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (MoMAK) was initially created as the Annex Museum of the Nationa ...

, the Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art, the

Museum of New Zealand The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring ...

, the

Artizon Museum Artizon Museum , until 2018 , is an art museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum was founded in 1952 by the founder of Bridgestone Tire Co., Ishibashi Shojiro (his family name means stone bridge). The museum's collections include Impressionists, Po ...

, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and ...

, and the

National Museum of Asian Art National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

References

External links

Homepage of the Sugimoto Art Museum

Artnet , Kenkichi Sugimoto
1886 births 1963 deaths Japanese potters Living National Treasures of Japan Recipients of the Order of Culture Artists from Nara Prefecture 20th-century ceramists Mingei Kyoto City University of Arts faculty 19th-century Japanese people 20th-century Japanese people {{Japan-artist-stub

Biography

Honors

See also

References

External links