is a Japanese ''

Nihonga ''Nihonga'' (, "Japanese-style paintings") are Japanese paintings from about 1900 onwards that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials. While based on traditions over a thousand years ...

'' painter known for his large scale waterfall paintings.

Biography

Hiroshi Senju was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. He has one brother, composer Akira Senju, and one sister, violinist Mariko Senjyu. He completed the BFA,

Tokyo University of the Arts or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

in 1982. He completed the MFA program in Fine Arts at

in 1984. He completed the doctoral course at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1987. His graduation work was purchased by The University of Tokyo. The End of Dream, solo exhibition, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney, Australia was held in 1989. His success largely came about in the 1990s in response to his gigantic waterfall paintings. These paintings are often hung in corporate and public buildings, and Senju has been said to be one of a few artists today whose work is recognized by the general public. One of Senju’s waterfalls was the first painting by an Asian artist to be awarded an Honorable Mention at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 1995. These waterfall paintings often focus at the base of the waterfall where the falls crash into the pool below, usually cropping out the top of the falls. As a painter he primarily uses traditional Japanese painting techniques; employing pigments derived from natural materials and applying them to a specially designed

mulberry paper The paper mulberry (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Morus papyrifera'' L.) is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia,tatami matted room, Hiroshi prefers his paintings to be viewed under natural light. He was elected as a member of the Japan Art Academy in 2022.

Works

Venice Biennale in 1995

In 1995, at the 46th

celebrating its

centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

year, Senju, who represented Japan, exhibited a huge waterfall mural in Japan Pavilion, measuring 3.4 meters high and 14 meters wide. Senju titled the work “THE FALL”, which implied the

fall of man The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience. * * * * ...

, in

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theology, theologian ...

, God expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden. During the installation process, a welding contractor accidentally dropped scorching coal tar on his painting. Senju, watching the incident happened, immediately rushed for it and removed the coal tar by his bare hand. He had to go to emergency hospital with his left hand got burned. The only consolation was that Senju’s dominant hand was uninjured, being able to repair the damage by the opening of Biennale. Senju’s waterfall was the first painting by an Asian artist to be awarded the Honorable Mention, for having “expressed the meditative world of nature and the fluctuations of Japan’s traditional culture.” The Japan Hall commissioner was Junji Ito and the other exhibition artists were Yoichiro Kawaguchi, Zaigin Sai, and Katsuhiko Hibino. The site organizer was

Kengo Kuma is a Japanese architect and professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific writings ...

Haneda Airport

From 2004 to 2011, Senju created a series of large commissioned works for

Haneda Airport , officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...

in Tokyo, Japan. These works include: Water Shrine, a painting, 2.5 meters high by 17.9 meters wide, located at International Terminal in front of immigration Inspection. Ginga (Galaxy), a painting, 100 square meters, on the top ceiling of Terminal 2. Youru no Kohan (Evening Lakeside), a painting measuring 2.5 meters high and 12.5 meters wide, located at Terminal 2, 1F Terminal lobby. Moon, a sitting sculpture of bull, located at Terminal 2, 5F Market place. Asa no Kohan (Morning Lakeside), a painting, 2.5 meters high and 14 meters wide, located at Terminal 2, 1F Terminal lobby.

Shofuso

In 2007, Hiroshi Senju created a series of 20 ''fusuma'' (paper sliding door) paintings for the

Shofuso Japanese House and Garden Shofuso (Pine Breeze Villa), ( ja, 松風荘) also known as Japanese House and Garden, is a traditional 17th century-style Japanese house and garden located in Philadelphia's West Fairmount Park on the site of the Centennial Exposition of 1876. ...

,Ozawa,Yuichi. ''Story of Shofuso''. Friends of the Japanese House and Garden. Philadelphia, PA. 2010. in Philadelphia, PA. Asked to replace the destroyed ''fusuma'' paintings of Japanese National Treasure, artist

Higashiyama Kaii was a Japanese writer and artist particularly renowned for his Nihonga style paintings. As one of the most popular artists in post-war Japan, Higashiyama was awarded the Japan Art Academy Prize in 1956 and the Order of Culture in 1969. Biograp ...

, Senju said, "Shofuso offers a wonderful space for murals far exceeding my expectations, and I will do my best to paint murals symbolizing and important symbolic exchange between Japan and the United States." Senju completed the installation in July 2006. He named the largest murals (8'x 12 1/2'), which serve as the centerpiece in the tokonoma alcove, ''Water Curtain'', a play on the classic symbol of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain. This curtain, with its layers of falling water, was meant to symbolize the freedom of Philadelphia, the birthplace of the United States. The six murals in the first room are named ''Imagination of Dynamics'' and those of the second room are titled ''Imagination of Silence''. The murals were first exhibited at Gwangju Biennale in South Korea in 2006 and were subsequently exhibited at the

Yamatane Museum The Yamatane Museum (山種美術館, ''Yamatane Bijutsukan'') is a museum in Japan specializing in the nihonga style of Japanese watercolour painting Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences) ...

in Tokyo, Japan. More than fifty thousand visitors saw the murals prior to their installation at Shofuso. The murals were then shipped to their final destination in Philadelphia, arriving in March and installed in April 2007. In donating the new murals, Senju honored ''Shōfusō'' in the ancient Japanese tradition of master painters offering their talents to the community. Shofuso is the only place outside Japan to house a unique combination of contemporary art and traditional Japanese architecture. He also participated in the Art House Project in

Naoshima, Kagawa is an island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea, part of Kagawa Prefecture. The island is best known for its many contemporary art installations and museums. The administers Naoshima and 26 smaller islands nearby. As of 2020, the town has an estimated ...

Venice Biennale in 2015

In 2015, Senju exhibited large-scale fluorescent pigment waterfalls ''Ryujin I'' and ''Ryujin II'' in a pitch-dark space, and natural pigment waterfall ''Suijin'' under daylight at ''Frontiers Reimagined'', a collateral event of the

curated and organized by Sundaram Tagore Foundation.

Kongobuji

In 2015, it was officially confirmed that Senju would create a series of

fusuma In Japanese architecture, are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors. They typically measure about wide by tall, the same size as a ''tatami'' mat, and are thick. The ...

paintings for the head temple of Kongobuji of Koyasan, located on Mount Kōya,

Wakayama, Japan is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...

. In 2018, following its staging at the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art & Design, ''Commemorating the Completion of Fusuma Paintings for Kongobuji Temple, Koyasan'' will tour multiple museums in Japan.高野山金剛峯寺襖絵完成記念千住博展
富山県美術館。

Books

Museum

Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa opened 10 October 2011 in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture. The museum was designed by architect

Ryue Nishizawa is a Japanese architect based in Tokyo. He is a graduate of Yokohama National University, and is director of his own firm, Office of Ryue Nishizawa, established in 1997. In 1995, he co-founded the firm SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates ...

, and consists of windows which make up the walls, a gently sloping concrete floor which naturally contours to the ground, and thin concrete walls scattered throughout the center of the museum which support the ceiling. The museum is owned and operated by the International Cultural College Foundation which possesses around 100 works by Hiroshi, about half of which can be displayed in the museum at any given time. His works are also stored overseas, such as, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, USA, Brooklyn Museum, NY, USA, The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, USA, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, USA, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Royal Ontario Museum, ON, Canada, National Palace Museum, Taiwan R.O.C, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA.

References

External links

Official HomepageSundaram Tagore GalleryHiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa
http://www.senju-museum.jp/en/
J-COLLABO.ORG InterviewBiography of Hiroshi SenjuCollections of Hiroshi SenjuGallery Moe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Senju, Hiroshi 1958 births Japanese contemporary artists Living people Nihonga painters Buddhist artists