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''The Hiroshima Panels'' (原爆の図, ''Genbaku no zu'') are a series of fifteen painted folding panels by the collaborative husband and wife artists
Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi (
fr) completed over a span of thirty-two years (1950–1982).
The ''Panels'' depict the consequences of the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as other nuclear disasters of the 20th century. Each panel stands 1.8 metres x 7.2 metres.
The paintings depict people wrenched by the violence and chaos of the atomic bombing; some wandering aimlessly, their bodies charred, while others are still being consumed by atomic fire. Dying lovers embrace and mothers cradling their dead children. Each painting portrays the inhumanity, brutality, and hopelessness of war, and the cruelty of bombing
civilians
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...
.
The people depicted in the paintings are not only
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
citizens but also
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
residents and
American POWs
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
who suffered or died in the atomic bombings as well.
The Marukis tried to represent all those affected so as to make their cause an international one and, above that, one of universal importance to all human beings. The use of traditional Japanese black and white ink drawings,
sumi-e, contrasted with the red of atomic fire produce an effect that is strikingly
anti-war and
anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, nationa ...
.
The panels also depict the accident of the ''
Daigo Fukuryu Maru'' on the
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...
in 1954 which the Marukis believed showed the threat of a nuclear bomb even during peace time.
The 15 ''Hiroshima Panels''
*''I Ghosts'' (幽霊, ''Yūrei'', 1950)
*''II Fire'' (火, ''Hi'', 1950)
*''III Water'' (水, ''Mizu'', 1950)
*''IV Rainbow'' (虹, ''Niji'', 1951)
*''V Boys and Girls'' (少年少女, ''Shōnen shōjo'', 1951)
*''VI Atomic Desert'' (原子野, ''Genshi-no'', 1952)
*''VII Bamboo Thicket'' (竹やぶ, ''Takeyabu'', 1954)
*''VIII Rescue'' (救出, ''Kyūshutsu'', 1954)
*''IX Yaizu'' (焼津, ''Yaizu'', 1955)
*''X Petition'' (暑名, ''Shomei'', 1955)
*''XI Mother and Child'' (母子像, ''Boshi-zō'', 1959)
*''XII Floating Lanterns'' (とうろう流し, 'Tōrō nagashi'', 1969)
*''XIII Death of American Prisoners of War'' (米兵捕虜の死, ''Beihei-horyo no shi'', 1971)
*''XIV Crows'' (からす, ''Karasu'', 1972)
*''XV Nagasaki'' (長崎, ''Nagasaki'', 1982)
Short prose-like poems written by the artists to further explain the subject of their visual work also accompany each painting.
In 1967, the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels, was established in
Higashi-Matsuyama,
Saitama,
Japan, as a permanent home for ''The Hiroshima Panels''. The fifteenth panel, ''Nagasaki'', is on permanent display at the Nagasaki International Cultural Hall. Also available for view at the Maruki Gallery are the Marukis' further collaborative paintings on
Auschwitz, the
Nanking massacre
The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the ...
, the
battle of Okinawa,
Minamata, and their summary collaborative painting entitled
Hell.
It was for these monumental works, along with their continued peace education efforts that the Marukis received a nomination for the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
in 1995.
''The Hiroshima Panels'' have also been the subject of the 1987
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominated documentary ''
Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima''.
The Japanese composer
Masao Ohki composed in 1953 his 5th Symphony. The first six panels that had been painted at the time were turned into six movements. British poet
James Kirkup
James Harold Kirkup, FRSL (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote over 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays. He wrote under many pen-names including James Falconer, Aditya Jha ...
's poem ''Ghosts, Fire, Water,'' published in the anthology ''No more Hiroshimas,'' is based on the first three panels. The poem was set to music by
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
composer Douglas Mews.
Gallery
Japanse tekeningen atoomaanslag Hirosjima Stedelijk Museum, Bestanddeelnr 908-3575.jpg
Japanse tekeningen atoomaanslag Hirosjima Stedelijk Museum, Bestanddeelnr 908-3576.jpg
Japanse tekeningen atoomaanslag Hirosjima Stedelijk Museum, Bestanddeelnr 908-3577.jpg
Japanse tekeningen atoomaanslag Hirosjima Stedelijk Museum, Bestanddeelnr 908-3578.jpg
See also
*
Guernica (painting)
''Guernica'' (; ) is a large 1937 oil painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.Richardson (2016)Picasso, Pablo. Guernica.' Museo Reina Sofía. ''(Retrieved 2017-09-07.)'' It is one of his best-known works, regarded by many art critics as the mo ...
References
External links
Maruki Gallery in Japan for ''The Hiroshima Panels'' (in English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiroshima Panels
Modern paintings
War paintings
Monuments and memorials concerning the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Anti-war paintings
Cities in art
Works about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki