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was a Japanese artist. Shinoda is best known for her abstract
sumi ink Inksticks () or ink cakes are a type of solid Chinese ink used traditionally in several Chinese and East Asian art forms such as calligraphy and brush painting. Inksticks are made mainly of soot and animal glue, sometimes with incense or medicin ...
paintings and prints. Shinoda’s oeuvre was predominantly executed using the traditional means and media of East Asian
calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
, but her resulting abstract ink paintings and prints express a nuanced visual affinity with the bold black brushstrokes of mid-century
Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
. In the postwar New York art world, Shinoda’s works were exhibited at the prominent art galleries including the
Bertha Schaefer Gallery Bertha Schaefer (1895–1971) was an American designer and gallery director, she was known for her furniture designs, and as an interior designer. Biography Schaefer was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1895. Her father Emil Schaefer was a ref ...
and the
Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...
. Shinoda remained active all her life and in 2013, she was honored with a touring retrospective exhibition at four venues in
Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...
(Gifu Collection of Modern Arts; Toko Shinoda Art Space; Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu; and Gallery Kohodo) to celebrate her 100th birthday. Shinoda has had solo exhibitions at the Seibu Museum at Art, Tokyo in 1989, the Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu in 1992, the
Singapore Art Museum The Singapore Art Museum (Abbreviation: SAM) is an art museum is located in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is the first fully dedicated contemporary visual arts museum in Singapore with one of the world’s most important public co ...
in 1996, the
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art The was one of the oldest contemporary art museums in Japan. The museum was in the Kita-Shinagawa district, in the Shinagawa area of Tokyo. The building was originally built as a private mansion designed by Jin Watanabe in 1938 for the grandfa ...
in 2003, the Sogo Museum of Art in 2021, the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery in 2022, and among many others. Shinoda's works are in the collection of the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...
, the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
, the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, 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 H ...
, the
Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, 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
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-centu ...
, the
Singapore Art Museum The Singapore Art Museum (Abbreviation: SAM) is an art museum is located in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is the first fully dedicated contemporary visual arts museum in Singapore with one of the world’s most important public co ...
, the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
, the
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
, and other leading museums of the world. Shinoda was also a prolific writer published more than 20 books.


Biography


Early life and education (1913–1936)

Shinoda was born in
Dairen Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...
,
Kwantung Leased Territory The Kwantung Leased Territory ( ja, 關東州, ''Kantō-shū''; ) was a leased territory of the Empire of Japan in the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905 to 1945. Japan first acquired Kwantung from the Qing Empire in perpetuity in 1895 in the Trea ...
(today Dalian,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
), on 28 March 1913. Her father, Raijirō, worked as the manager of a
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
factory; her mother, Jōko, was a housewife. Shinoda’s given name was Masuko (満州子; literally “child of Manchuria”) but later she received the artist name Tōkō (桃紅), meaning “red peach flower.” In 1914, her family moved to
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 ...
, where Shinoda was raised. Raijirō taught Shinoda various forms of classical poetry and provided her with her first
calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
instruction at five years old. In 1925, Shinoda entered a women’s higher school, where she received
calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
instruction from a tutor named Setsudō Shimono. After graduation, Shinoda also learned to compose short poems (''
tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...
'') with Ayako Nakahara. The art historian Kimihiko Nakamura points out that "While Shinoda was encouraged to engage in intellectual and creative activities from quite a young age, they were still considered part of her feminine accomplishments, and she was not expected to become a professional artist. Shinoda’s career eventually broke from the yoke of this pervasive patriarchal dogma that narrowly defined who she was and what she could be." In 1936, at age twenty-three, Shinoda ran away from home and began to earn a living by teaching
calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
.


Early career as a ''kana'' calligrapher (1940)

In 1940, Shinoda realized her first solo show at the retail stationary store Kyūkyodō in
Ginza Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous intern ...
. “She exhibited calligraphy of her original short poems written in ''kana'' (Japanese syllabary), but they were harshly criticized by the calligraphy establishment (''shodan'') as 'rootless' or lacking a respectable classical foundation.” Such negative response was due to “calligraphy’s long-standing gendered division of styles.” Kimihiko Nakamura points out that “Although a number of female calligraphers had attained fame since the prewar period, they predominantly practiced in ''kana'' calligraphy, which traditionalists considered to be a native and demure 'feminine' mode of writing vis-à-vis the foreign and rugged 'masculine' ''mana'' (Chinese characters) writing. What was expected in ''kana'' calligraphy was a 'feminine delicacy' grounded in the study of the ''kana'' diaries and poems produced by the Heian court women in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. Shinoda’s unorthodox calligraphy, which neglected such established norms, coupled with the presentation of her own original poems, irritated the calligraphy establishment." Soon after her unsuccessful first solo show, and as the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
quickly escalated, Shinoda evacuated to
Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...
,
Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...
, in 1941, and her career was suspended until she recovered from
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
in 1947.


Avant-garde calligraphy (''zen’ei sho'') in early postwar Japan (1947–1956)

After the war, Shinoda quickly moved toward abstract expression. The artist noted: “The air of freedom after the war suddenly nurtured the seeds of a desire within me to express the shape of my heart visually. I was suddenly emancipated from the oppressions of my twenties, and my brush moved like an outpour. Like a spur, his new feelingpushed me outside the constraints of characters, and it became my exciting job with limitless scope.” Her “early works clearly demonstrate that Shinoda had already established her abstract style through the use of brushstrokes and ink splashes that employed a variety of expressions, even before she moved to New York.” In postwar Japan, “Shinoda was not the only calligrapher who celebrated the creative freedom and liberating sense of selfhood through calligraphy. Scholars have widely interpreted the flourishing of modernist calligraphy in postwar Japan as a movement initiated by Hidai Nannkoku and his predominantly male students. Nankoku was the son of the calligraphy master Hidai Tenrai, who is often referred to as 'the father of modern Japanese calligraphy.'” Most famously, in 1952, five calligraphers— Shiryū Morita, Yūichi Inoue, Sōgen Eguchi, Bokushi Nakamura, and Yoshimichi Sekiya—formed a new avant-garde calligraphy (''zen'ei sho''; 前衛書) group called
Bokujinkai Bokujinkai (墨人会, “People of the Ink,” est. 1952) is a Japanese calligraphy collective, research group, and exhibition society. It was founded by the calligraphers Shiryū Morita, Yūichi Inoue, Sōgen Eguchi, Yoshimichi Sekiya, and Boku ...
(墨人会; People of the Ink). These founding members of
Bokujinkai Bokujinkai (墨人会, “People of the Ink,” est. 1952) is a Japanese calligraphy collective, research group, and exhibition society. It was founded by the calligraphers Shiryū Morita, Yūichi Inoue, Sōgen Eguchi, Yoshimichi Sekiya, and Boku ...
had previously worked in Keiseikai (Group of the Megrez Star), a group established by Tenrai’s first student Sōkyū Ueda, but under the newly-formed
Bokujinkai Bokujinkai (墨人会, “People of the Ink,” est. 1952) is a Japanese calligraphy collective, research group, and exhibition society. It was founded by the calligraphers Shiryū Morita, Yūichi Inoue, Sōgen Eguchi, Yoshimichi Sekiya, and Boku ...
, declared their "independence from any existing association” and rejected conservative master-student hierarchies in the calligraphy establishment. Meanwhile, Shinoda did not have any master to follow or reject, and she was marginalized in the male-dominated calligraphic community. Kimihiko Nakamura points out that “while ''kana'' calligraphy had offered opportunities for women to become professionals, the innovative, modernist terrain of postwar Japanese calligraphy was in fact not open to them, framed as belonging to the leading male calligraphers who were the legitimate heirs of the master Tenrai.” Shinoda belonged to the Calligraphic Art Institute (Shodō geijutsu-in; 書道芸術院) from 1950 until 1956, and participated in the fifth ''Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition'' (毎日書道展) in 1953. “These associations provided Shinoda with opportunities to exhibit her work regularly with leading male calligraphers, and gradually she garnered acclaim and financial security. Nevertheless, she was increasingly frustrated with the calligraphic associations’ hierarchical structures, their prize systems, and the responsibility of mentoring students. Shinoda maintained a certain distance from this bureaucracy and refused full integration in their activities.” In the 1950s, Shinoda built connections with modernist architects and her works became known beyond the calligraphic community. “In 1954, Shinoda had a critically successful solo show at the Ginza
Matsuzakaya ( TYO: 8235, delisted) is a major Japanese department store chain operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, a subsidiary of J. Front Retailing. When the chain was an independent company, , it had its headquarters in Naka-ku, Nagoya. ...
department store, displaying her abstract ink paintings in a space specially designed by Tange Kenzō, one of postwar Japan’s foremost architects. Further, Shinoda was also commissioned to create large-scale ink murals, including for the Japan Pavilion designed by Tange at the four-hundredth anniversary of
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
in 1954, and the Japan Pavilion designed by Kenmochi Isamu at the Washington State Fourth International Trade Fair in 1955, among other venues. From the mid-1950s onward, Shinoda endeavored to expand the definition of calligraphy by collaborating with modernist architects. As her work was shown overseas, she was gradually known beyond the Japanese calligraphic community. In 1954, along with several leading male calligraphers, Shinoda was selected for a group show entitled ''Japanese Calligraphy'' at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, New York. The following year, the Brussels-born CoBrA painter
Pierre Alechinsky Pierre Alechinsky (born 19 October 1927) is a Belgian artist. He has lived and worked in France since 1951. His work is related to tachisme, abstract expressionism, and lyrical abstraction. Life Alechinsky was born in Schaerbeek. In 1944 he att ...
visited Japan and captured Shinoda, Ōsawa akyū Morita hiryūand Eguchi ōgenin his art film, ''Calligraphie Japonaise''. Importantly, Shinoda was not just a passive beneficiary of postwar internationalism and popular interest in Japanese culture in the Euro-American sphere. In fact, she actively engaged with the international art scene to expand her exhibition opportunities and audiences beyond Japan.”


American years (1956–1958)

In 1956, with an invitation from the Swetzoff Gallery in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to hold a one-person exhibition, the 43-year-old Shinoda embarked on a solo journey to the US. “Although Shinoda only had a two-month visitor’s visa, it was through the assistance of Okada Kenzō, an established painter at the
Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...
, that she secured her first New York solo show at the
Bertha Schaefer Gallery Bertha Schaefer (1895–1971) was an American designer and gallery director, she was known for her furniture designs, and as an interior designer. Biography Schaefer was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1895. Her father Emil Schaefer was a ref ...
in January 1957.” During her two-year stay in the US, Shinoda quickly garnered admiration from her international viewers, and held solo exhibitions at various cities including New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, Paris and Brussels. In 1956, the famous photographer
Hans Namuth Hans Namuth (March 17, 1915 – October 13, 1990) was a German-born photographer. Namuth specialized in portraiture, photographing many artists, including abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock. His photos of Pollock at work in his studio increa ...
, who was known for his portraits of
Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
and other
Abstract Expressionist Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
painters, captured Shinoda executing an abstract ink painting on paper.


Becoming a major Japanese artist (1958–2021)

During her two-year stay in the US, Shinoda was increasingly frustrated with the dry climate pf the US, which was not conducive for producing ink paintings. Upon her return to to Japan in May 1958, she remained in the country. In the 1960s, “Shinoda establish icher mature style
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
wide, bold lines—such as blurs, hazes, and subtle but rich variations of tone within a black field—dominate the picture surface and express more clearly the nature of ink.” Moreover, from 1960 onwards, Shinoda produced more than 1000
lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
. For about fifty years, Shinoda’s lithographs were printed by the print-maker Kihachi Kimura (木村希八; 1934–2014). In the 1960s, Shinoda was also commissioned for large architectural projects including the grand drape and the porcelain wall relief for the Nichinan Cultural Center (designed by
Kenzō Tange was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five cont ...
) in
Miyagi Miyagi may refer to: Places * Miyagi Prefecture, one of the 47 major divisions of Japan * Miyagi, Gunma, a village in Japan, merged into Maebashi in 2004 *Miyagi District, Miyagi, a district in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan Other uses * Miyagi (surna ...
in 1962, the grand drape for the Meijiza Theatre (designed by Isaoya Yoshida) in Tokyo in 1963, the mural for the VIP room of
Yoyogi National Gymnasium Yoyogi National Gymnasium, officially is an indoor arena located at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, which is famous for its suspension roof design. It was designed by Kenzo Tange and built between 1961 and 1964 to house swimming and d ...
(designed by
Kenzō Tange was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five cont ...
) in 1964, and the multimedia relief for the
Kyoto International Conference Center The , abbreviated as ICC Kyoto and previously called the Kyoto International Conference Hall, is a large conference facility located at Takaragaike, Sakyō-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The Kyoto Protocol was signed in this hall. The ...
(designed by
Sachio Otani was a noted Japanese architect. Biography Otani was born in Tokyo, and in 1946 graduated from the University of Tokyo. He began his career in Kenzo Tange's studio, where he helped design the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (1955). In 1960 he st ...
) in 1965. In 1974, Shinoda was commissioned by
Zōjō-ji is a Jōdo-shū Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan. It is the main temple of the Jōdo-shū ("Pure Land") Chinzei sect of Buddhism in the Kantō region,. Its mountain name is San'en-zan (三縁山). Zōjō-ji is notable for its relationship wit ...
Temple to produce sliding screen (''fusuma'') paintings that spanned and extended over three panels. In the 1960s and 1970s, Shinoda’s abstract ink paintings and prints continued to be shown overseas frequently. Shinoda had solo shows at the prominent
Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, in 1965, 1968, 1971, and 1977. Kimihiko Nakamura points out that “Shinoda consciously maintained her distance from the patriarchal and hierarchical Japanese art world and, with her critical success outside her homeland, established herself as an acclaimed international artist.” The art historian Midori Yoshimoto also argues that “In the field of calligraphy, hinodabecame the first prominent woman artist. She radicalized the traditional medium by pushing abstraction and dynamism to the extreme. Her work was shown not only in calligraphy exhibitions but in exhibitions of abstract art. By crossing the boundaries between calligraphy and Western-style modern art, she invented her own field and as such suppressed male artists.” In the 1960s and 1970s, “While Shinoda’s monochrome ink abstractions particularly attracted attention on the international art scene, the artist was also seeking a new mode of expression. For example, in ''Tōtsu yo'' (In the Far Past) . 1964 displayed at her first
Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...
show in 1965, ink completely forms the background and the effective use of silver paint—which changes easily over time, potentially making this piece more luminous at the time of its unveiling—brings a dramatic contrast of light and shade on the picture surface. From the mid-1960s, Shinoda’s work gradually began to include a brighter palette including silver, gold, and vermilion (cinnabar), and through the late 1980s and 1990s, she pursued large-scale pieces with backgrounds of silver, gold, or platinum leaf While Shinoda achieved international recognition as early as in the 1950s, her first museum solo show in Japan was much later in 1989 at the Seibu Museum at Art, Tokyo, followed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu in 1992, and the
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art The was one of the oldest contemporary art museums in Japan. The museum was in the Kita-Shinagawa district, in the Shinagawa area of Tokyo. The building was originally built as a private mansion designed by Jin Watanabe in 1938 for the grandfa ...
in 2003. Shinoda also became the first Japanese artist to hold solo show at the
Singapore Art Museum The Singapore Art Museum (Abbreviation: SAM) is an art museum is located in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is the first fully dedicated contemporary visual arts museum in Singapore with one of the world’s most important public co ...
in 1996. Shinoda remained active all her life. In 2013, she was honored with a touring retrospective exhibition at the four venues in
Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...
(Gifu Collection of Modern Arts; Toko Shinoda Art Space; Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu; and Gallery Kohodo) to celebrate her 100th birthday. In 2016, Shinoda was honored on a
postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...
issued by
Japan Post Holdings is a Japanese publicly traded Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is mainly engaged in postal and logistics business, financial window business, banking business and life insuran ...
. She was the only Japanese artist to have been celebrated in this manner while still alive. Shinoda died on March 1, 2021, at a hospital in Tokyo at the age of 107. A year after her death in 2022, two retrospective of Shinoda were held at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and the Musée Tomo, Tokyo.


Legacy

Shinoda’s oeuvre is regularly displayed at the Toko Shinoda Art Space (関市立篠田桃紅美術空間; opened in 2003), and Gifu Collection of Modern Arts (岐阜現代美術館; opened in 2006), both of which are located in Seki,
Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...
, and managed by the Gifu Collection of Modern Arts Foundation (岐阜現代美術財団). This foundation, in turn, has been funded by the Seki-based local company
Nabeya Bi-tech Kaisha , also known as NBK, is a machine component parts manufacturer located in Seki, Gifu, Japan. The company's roots date to 1560, when it began as a metal foundry casting pots, tea kettles and temple bells. History NBK’s history dates to 1560, wh ...
(鍋屋バイテック). Although Shinoda never lived in
Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...
, her farther, Raijirō, was originally from an old family in Akutami-mura (芥見村),
Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...
.


Writing

* Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Atarashii shodō jūni-kagetsu: Jojōshi no kaisetsu o soete'' (新しい書道十二ケ月: 抒情詩の解説を添えて). Tokyo: Dōgakusha, 1954. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Iroha shijūhachi moji'' (いろは四十八文字). Tokyo: Yaraishoin, 1976. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Sumi iro'' (墨いろ). Kyoto: PHP kenkyūjo, 1978. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Shudeishō'' (朱泥抄). Kyoto: PHP kenkyūjo, 1979. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Sono hi no sumi'' (その日の墨). Tokyo: Tōjusha, 1983. * Shinoda, Tōkō, ed. ''Sumi'' (墨). Tokyo: Sakuhinsha, 1985. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Omoi no hoka no'' (おもいのほかの). Tokyo: Tōjusha, 1985. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Ichi-ji hitokoto'' (一字ひとこと). Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1986. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Kinō no yukue'' (きのうのゆくえ). Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1990. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Sumi o yomu: Ichi-ji hitokoto'' (墨を読む: 一字ひとこと). Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 1998. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Tōkō: Watashi toiu hitori'' (桃紅: 私というひとり). Tokyo: Sekaibunkasha, 2000. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Tōkō ehon'' (桃紅えほん) ''= Toko Shinoda Visual Book''. Tokyo: Sekaibunkasha, 2002. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Tōkō hyaku-nen'' (桃紅百年). Tokyo: Sekaibunkasha, 2013. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Hyaku-sai no chikara'' (百歳の力). Tokyo: Shūeisha, 2014. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Hyakusan-sai, hitori de ikiru sahō: Oitara oita de, manzara de mo nai'' (一〇三歳、ひとりで生きる作法: 老いたら老いたで、まんざらでもない). Tokyo: Gentōsha, 2015. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Hyakusan-sai ni natte wakatta koto: Jinsei wa hitori demo omoshiroi'' (一〇三歳になってわかったこと: 人生は一人でも面白い). Tokyo: Gentōsha, 2015. * Hinohara, Shigeaki, Shinoda Tōkō, Hori Fumiko, et al. ''Hyaku-sai ga kiku hyaku-sai no hanashi'' (一〇〇歳が聞く一〇〇歳の話). Tokyo: Jitsugyōnonihonsha, 2015. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Jinsei wa ippon no sen'' (人生は一本の線). Tokyo: Gentōsha, 2016. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Hyakugo-sai, shinenai no mo komaru no yo'' (一〇五歳、死ねないのも困るのよ). Tokyo: Gentōsha, 2017. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Tōkō hyakugo-sai sukina mono to ikiru'' (桃紅一〇五歳好きなものと生きる). Tokyo: Sekaibunkasha, 2017. * Shinoda, Tōkō. ''Kore de oshimai'' (これでおしまい). Tokyo: Kōdansha, 2021.


Selected exhibitions


Solo exhibitions

* 1940 Kyūkyodō (鳩居堂), Tokyo * 1954 Ginza Matsuzakaya Department Store, Tokyo * 1956 Yōseidō Gallery (養清堂画廊), Tokyo * 1956 Swetzoff Gallery, Boston * 1957
Bertha Schaefer Gallery Bertha Schaefer (1895–1971) was an American designer and gallery director, she was known for her furniture designs, and as an interior designer. Biography Schaefer was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1895. Her father Emil Schaefer was a ref ...
, New York * 1957
Taft Museum of Art The Taft Museum of Art is a fine art collection in Cincinnati, Ohio. It occupies the 200-year-old historic house at 316 Pike Street. The house – the oldest domestic wooden structure in downtown Cincinnati – was built about 1820 and housed ...
, Cincinnati * 1957
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
, Chicago * 1957 La Hune, Paris * 1958 Jefferson Place Gallery, Washington, D.C. * 1959 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels * 1965
Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...
, New York * 1968
Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...
, New York * 1971
Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...
, New York * 1977
Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...
, New York * 1989 ''Toko Shinoda'' (篠田桃紅展), Seibu Museum at Art, Tokyo * 1992 ''Toko Shinoda Retrospective'' (篠田桃紅: 時のかたち), Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu * 1996 ''Toko Shinoda: Visual Poetry'',
Singapore Art Museum The Singapore Art Museum (Abbreviation: SAM) is an art museum is located in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is the first fully dedicated contemporary visual arts museum in Singapore with one of the world’s most important public co ...
* 1998 Annely Juda Fine Art, London * 2001 Sōgetsu Kaikan, Tokyo * 2003 ''Variations of Vermillion'' (篠田桃紅: 朱よ),
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art The was one of the oldest contemporary art museums in Japan. The museum was in the Kita-Shinagawa district, in the Shinagawa area of Tokyo. The building was originally built as a private mansion designed by Jin Watanabe in 1938 for the grandfa ...
, Tokyo * 2013 ''Toko Shinoda 100 Years'' (篠田桃紅: 百の譜), Gifu Collection of Modern Arts, Toko Shinoda Art Space, Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, and Gallery Kohodo. * 2013 ''Trailblazer: The Art of Shinoda Toko'', Japan Society, New York * 2013 ''Toko Shinoda: A Lifetime of Accomplishment'' (篠田桃紅の墨象), Musée Tomo, Tokyo * 2017 ''Toko Shinoda: In the Autumn of My Years...'' (篠田桃紅: 昔日の彼方に), Musée Tomo, Tokyo * 2018 Zōjōj Temple, Tokyo * 2018-2021 ''Toko Shinoda: Things Transient - Colors of Sumi, Forms of the Mind'' (篠田桃紅: とどめ得ぬもの 墨のいろ 心のかたち), Ueda City Museum of Art, Ueda, Nagano, Nariwa Museum, Takahashi, Okayama, Kosetsu Museum of Art, Kobe, the Suiboku Museum, Toyama, and Sogo Museum of Art, Yokohama. * 2022 ''Toko Shinoda: A Retrospective'' (篠田桃紅展), Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery * 2022 ''Toko Shinoda: Bridge Over Fleeting Dreams'' (篠田桃紅: 夢の浮橋), Musée Tomo, Tokyo


Group exhibitions

* 1954 ''Japanese Calligraphy'',
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, New York * 1955 ''Japan America Abstract Arts'' (日米抽象美術展), The National Museum of Modern Art (国立近代美術館; present The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 東京国立近代美術館) * 1955 ''Contemporary Japanese Calligraphy: Art in Sumi'' (現代日本の書・墨の芸術: ヨーロッパ巡回展の国内展示), The National Museum of Modern Art (国立近代美術館) * 1958 ''Development of Modern Japanese Abstract Painting'' (抽象絵画の展開), The National Museum of Modern Art (国立近代美術館) * 1959 ''Sumi Paintings of Japan'', Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo * 1961 ''6th
São Paulo Biennial SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...
'' * 1961 ''1961 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Art'', Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh * 1961 ''Contemporary Japanese Art'', Akademie der Kunst, Berlin * 1967 ''ROSC '67'', Royal Dublin Society, Dublin * 1971 ''ROSC '71'', Royal Dublin Society, Dublin * 1973 ''Development of Postwar Japanese Art: Abstract and Non-figurative'' (戦後日本美術の展開: 抽象表現の多様化), The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo * 1979 ''
Okada Okada (written: 岡田 literally "hill rice-paddy") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the name include: * , Japanese painter * Doris Okada Matsui, American politician of the Democratic Party * , Japanese painter in the Edo period * , Japa ...
, Shinoda, and Tsutaka: Three Pioneers of Abstract Painting in 20th Century Japan'',
The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughlin, ...
, Washington, D.C. * 1992 ''Calligraphy and Painting, the Passionate Age: 1945-1969'' (書と絵画の熱き時代: 1945-1969), O Art Museum (品川文化振興事業団O美術館), Tokyo * 1994-1995 ''Japanese Art After 1945: Scream Against the Sky'',
Yokohama Museum of Art , founded in 1989, is located in the futuristic Minato Mirai 21 district of the Japanese city Yokohama, next to the Yokohama Landmark Tower. The collections The museum has works by many influential and well-known modern artists including Constant ...
,
Guggenheim Museum SoHo The Guggenheim Museum SoHo was a branch of the Guggenheim Museum designed by Arata Isozaki that was located at the corner of Broadway and Prince Street in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. The museum opened in 1992 and closed in 2001 after hosting ex ...
, and
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
* 1995 ''Japanese Culture: The Fifty Postwar Years'' (戦後文化の軌跡 1945-1995), Meguro Museum of Art, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art,
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art The is an art museum founded in 1989. It is in Hijiyama Park in Hiroshima, Japan. The building was designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa. Representative collections Access *Hiroden Hijiyama-shita Station See also *Hiroshima Museum of Art * ...
, and
Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art opened in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1985. The collection focuses upon artists from Fukuoka Prefecture and Kyūshū more generally, and includes works by Harue Koga, Koga Harue. The Museum's precursor, the , which combined art museum with library, opene ...
* 2021 ''Contemporary Women Artists of Japan: Six Stories'', The Asahi Shinbun Displays,
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...


Major public collections

*
Albright–Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...
*
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
*
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
*
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 H ...
*
Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...
*
Hakodate Museum of Art, Hokkaido opened in Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan in 1986. The collection focuses on works from southern Hokkaidō, including paintings by Kakizaki Hakyō and calligraphy by , and special exhibitions are also mounted. See also * Hakodate City Museum * Ha ...
*
Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
*
Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of her ...
, Otterlo *
Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...
Art Galleries * Luxembourg Royal Collection *
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
* Museum fuer Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin *
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 ...
* Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu *
Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...
, Essen *
Museum of Modern Art, Toyama The is a museum in Toyama, Toyama. It is one of Japan's many museums which are supported by a prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Museums"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', pp. 671-673. The museum, which opened in 1981, stands within Jōnan ...
*
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
*
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-centu ...
*
National Museum of Singapore ms, Muzium Negara Singapura ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் தேசிய அருங்காட்சியகம் , native_name_lang = , logo = , image = 2016 Singapur, Museum Planning Area, Narodowe Muzeum Singapuru (02) ...
* Niigata City Art Museum *
Singapore Art Museum The Singapore Art Museum (Abbreviation: SAM) is an art museum is located in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is the first fully dedicated contemporary visual arts museum in Singapore with one of the world’s most important public co ...
* Stadtisches Museum den Haag *
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
*
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
*
Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art is a museum on the crest of Mount Carmel, in Haifa, Israel, dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of Japanese art. It is the only such museum in the Middle East. It was established in 1959 on the initiati ...
, Haifa *
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 ori ...
*
Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...


Further reading

* Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, and Tolman Collection, Tokyo, eds. ''Shinoda Tōkō shu yo'' = ''Toko Shinoda: Variations of Vermillion'', exh. cat., Tokyo: Arukanshēru bijutsu zaidan, 2003. * Miyazaki, Kaori, ed. ''Momo no fu: Shinoda Tōkō 100 nen'' = ''Shinoda Toko 100 Years: Momo no fu: Scenes from a Century'', exh. cat., Seki: Gifu Collection of Modern Arts Foundation, 2013. * Miyazaki, Kaori, ed. ''Toko'', Seki: Gifu Collection of Modern Arts Foundation, 2019. * Mukai, Akiko. ''Sengo zen'ei sho ni miru sho no modanizumu: "Nihon kindai bijutsu" o shūen kara toinaosu'', Tokyo: Sangensha, 2022. * Nakamura, Kimihiko. “Shinoda Tōkō: Ink, Abstraction, and Radical Individualism.” ''Woman’s Art Journal'' 43, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2022): 21–30. * ''
Okada Okada (written: 岡田 literally "hill rice-paddy") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the name include: * , Japanese painter * Doris Okada Matsui, American politician of the Democratic Party * , Japanese painter in the Edo period * , Japa ...
, Shinoda, and Tsutaka: Three Pioneers of Abstract Painting in 20th Century Japan'', exh. cat., Washington, D.C.: Phillips Collection, 1979. * Satō, Miwako, ed. ''Shinoda Tōkō no bokushō'' = ''Toko Shinoda: A Lifetime of Accomplishment'', exh. cat., Tokyo: Tolman Collection, 2013. * ''Shinoda Tōkō ten zuroku'' = ''Catalogue of Toko Shinoda Exhibition'', exh. cat., Tokyo: Seibu Museum of Art. 1989. * ''Shinoda Tōkō: toki no katachi'' = ''Toko Shinoda Retrospective'', exh. cat., Gifu: Museum of Fine Arts, 1992. * ''Toko Shinoda: Paintings, Prints, Drawings, and Screens, 1970-1998'', exh. cat., London: Annely Juda Fine Art, 1998. * Tolman Collection, Tokyo, ed. ''Shinoda Tōkō:'' ''Sekijitsu no kanata ni'' = ''Toko Shinoda: In the Autumn of My Years...'', exh. cat., Tokyo: Tolman Collection, 2017. * Tolman, Mary, and Norman H. Tolman. ''Toko Shinoda: A New Appreciation''. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E Tuttle Company, 1993. * ''Visual Poetry by Toko Shinoda: Paintings, Original Works on Paper, Lithographs'', exh. cat., Singapore: Singapore Art Museum National Heritage Board. 1996.


External links


Gifu Collection of Modern ArtsThe Tolman Collection, Tokyo

The Tolman Collection, New York


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shinoda, Toko 1913 births 2021 deaths Japanese centenarians Women centenarians 20th-century Japanese women artists 20th-century Japanese artists Japanese women painters Japanese painters Women calligraphers Japanese calligraphers Women printmakers Abstract expressionist artists Artists from Dalian