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 37.46 ...
. He has one brother, composer
Akira Senju
is a Japanese composer, arranger and conductor.
Biography
Senju studied composition at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and received his master's degree with honors.
Between 1994 and 2003, he produced series of cover albums ...
, 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
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 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 base.] In contrast to the norm of displaying such works in a dimly lit, 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 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 ...
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 to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* The doctrine of the ...
, in Christian theology
Christian theology is the theology of 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 theologians use biblical exeg ...
, 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 writin ...
.[
]
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,[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.
Biograph ...
, 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
The Gwangju Biennale is a contemporary art biennale founded in September 1995 in Gwangju, South Jeolla province, South Korea. The Gwangju Biennale is hosted by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and the city of Gwangju. The Gwangju Biennale Found ...
in South Korea in 2006 and were subsequently exhibited at the Yamatane Museum 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
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 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 ...
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. Th ...
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](_blank)
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 Associate ...
, 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 Homepage
Sundaram Tagore Gallery
Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa
http://www.senju-museum.jp/en/
J-COLLABO.ORG Interview
Biography of Hiroshi Senju
Collections of Hiroshi Senju
Gallery Moe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Senju, Hiroshi
1958 births
Japanese contemporary artists
Living people
Nihonga painters
Buddhist artists