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Sadao Watanabe |
Sadao Watanabe (1913 - 1996):
Born in 1913, Sadao Watanabe is one of Japan?s most successful artists from the latter 20th century. He became ill with tuberculosis and found hope through reading the Bible. By 1930, he was baptized and decided to make a commitment to tell the Christian story through his artwork.
After Sadao Watanabe had recovered from severe tuberculosis, he still continued to spread the story of the Bible in his work. He did so by specializing in the art of "Katazome", the technique of traditional stencil drying used for the Kimono. Sadao Watanabe studied under Soetsu Yanagi (1891 ? 1961) who was then a leading member of the Japanese folk art movement. He also learned the traditional technique of Japanese stencil printing, called Kappazuri from Serizawa Keisuke. In 1947, he won the top prize from the Japan Folk Art Museum and then the Kokugokai Prize in 1948. He also held a one-man show at the Portland Art Museum in 1962 and displayed his work at The Modern Print Show at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.
In 1976, Sadao Watanabe was invited to the United States by the Lutheran Church and by 1977 had a one man show held at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. In 1981, he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Linfield College, Oregon. His works are in the collection of: Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts in San Francisco, Art Institute of Chicago, Boston Art Museum, British Museum, Carnegie Museum, Cincinnati Museum of Art, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Museum of Modern Art in New York, National Museum of Art in Tokyo, as well as numerous important private collections. |
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