Kanjiro Kawai and Shigeru Ueki: Two Wood Carvers

Exhibition catalog for "Kawai Kanjiro and Ueki Shigeru: Two Wood Carvers," held at the Chiba City Museum of Art in 2001. It focuses on wood carvings by ceramicist Kawai Kanjiro and sculptor Ueki Shigeru, and also includes furniture, Mokujiki and Enku Buddhist statues collected by the two artists, and related materials.

Kawai Kanjiro began working seriously on wood carving around the 1950s, and in his later years, it became an important area of creation alongside his ceramics. Meanwhile, Ueki Shigeru began creating abstract sculptures using wood as a material in the 1930s, consistently exploring abstract forms.

The two artists, who had different starting points and areas of activity, are juxtaposed through their relationship with the material of "wood." The exhibition is structured to examine the connection between modern and contemporary art and the tradition of Japanese wood carving, while also introducing the Mokujiki and Enku statues that both artists were interested in.

In addition to the works of Kawai Kanjiro and Ueki Shigeru, it contains Masanori Moroyama's "Kawai Kanjiro's Wood Carving," Kikuo Okochi's "This and That about Ueki Shigeru," Hideya Warashina's "The Metamorphosis of Mass: Focusing on Ueki Shigeru's Wood Carvings," chronological tables for both artists, and a list of works.

[Title] Kawai Kanjiro and Ueki Shigeru: Two Wood Carvers
[Publisher] Chiba City Museum of Art
[Publication Date] June 12, 2001
[Number of Pages] 148 pages
[Dimensions] approx. 226 × 280 × 12 mm / 590 g
[Format] Softcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] Kawai Kanjiro to Ueki Shigeru: Futari no Mokucho
[Author/Editor, etc.] Edited by Chiba City Museum of Art, Designed by Kazuyoshi Oishi, Produced by Imex Fine Art
[Printing/Binding] -
[ISBN] -
[Condition] Used [5] Average (slight tanning on spine)
[Accessories] 1 errata sheet
[Included in] -
[Related Exhibition] Kawai Kanjiro and Ueki Shigeru: Two Wood Carvers (Chiba City Museum of Art, June 12–July 29, 2001)

Kawai Kanjiro (1890–1966)

Born in Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture. After graduating from the Tokyo Higher Technical School, he worked at the Kyoto Municipal Ceramic Research Institute, and in 1920, he built the Shokei-gama kiln in Gojozaka, Kyoto.

Starting with works based on the study of ancient Chinese ceramics, he participated in the Mingei (Folk Art) Movement through his exchanges with Soetsu Yanagi and Shoji Hamada. He developed his own unique style of modeling, focusing on ceramics.

Around the 1950s, he began to work seriously on wood carving, and in his later years, it became an important area of production on par with his ceramics. In this exhibition, his wood carvings are juxtaposed with the works of Shigeru Ueki to introduce them through their relationship with wood as a material.

Ueki Shigeru (1913–1984)

Born in Sapporo City, Hokkaido. He initially aspired to be a Western-style painter and studied under fellow Hokkaido native Kotaro Migishi. In 1935, a visit to Toshodai-ji Temple in Nara prompted him to turn to sculpture.

In 1937, he presented abstract sculptures at a time when there were still few examples of such works. Self-taught in sculpture, he explored abstract forms while mainly using wood as his medium.

He created works that utilized the volume and form of wood, demonstrating one of the developments of wood carving expression in modern and contemporary Japanese sculpture.

< Related Figures >

Soetsu Yanagi
Shoji Hamada
Kotaro Migishi
Enku
Mokujiki
Takeo Matsuhisa
Chiba City Museum of Art