was a Japanese painter of the Shōwa and

Heisei The is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, ...

eras, who practiced the

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 ...

style of

watercolour painting Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

Biography

Sugiyama was born in 1909 in

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History The ...

, the eldest son of the owner of a

stationery Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter pape ...

shop. In 1928, Sugiyama enrolled in the Tokyo Art School (now the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music). He formed the "rossogasha" (瑠爽画社) along with Yamamoto Kyujin and Takayama Tatsuo, and participated positively in the movement to reform nihonga. His paintings are characteristized by peacefulness filled with a sense of security, owing to excellent sketching ability and solid construction. In 1958, his eldest daughter married

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...

. As a reason for choosing her, Mishima suggested "because she was the daughter of an artist, so she wouldn't hold to many of the illusions people have about artists". He received a commission to design the carpets 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 va ...

. His stylized pattern of clouds (''kumo'') was used in the ''Shunju-no-Ma'', a grand hall with an area of 608 square meters, or about 184 ''

tsubo A ''pyeong'' (abbreviationpy) is a Korean unit of area and floorspace, equal to a square '' kan'' or 36square Korean feet. The ''ping'' and ''tsubo'' are its equivalent Taiwanese and Japanese units, similarly based on a square '' bu'' ( ja:步) ...

''. He also designed the pattern of grass (''kusa''), which was used in the ''Houmei-Den'', the largest hall with an area of 915 square meters, or about 280 ''tsubo''. In 1974, Sugiyama was awarded 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 ...

Famous works

*穹 (1964,

Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art 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 ...

)

References

1909 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Japanese painters Nihonga painters Artists from Tokyo Recipients of the Order of Culture Tokyo School of Fine Arts alumni {{japan-painter-stub

Biography

Famous works

See also

References