Fumio Asakura


Fumio Asakura was a Western-style Japanese sculptor, known as the father of modern Japanese sculpture and referred to as the "Rodin of Japan". He was a prolific artist, and his work spanned the Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa periods of Japanese history.

Biography

Asakura was born in 1883 and raised in the village of Asaji in Oita Prefecture in western Kyushu, Japan. He traveled to Tokyo to study art at Tokyo School of Fine Arts, now the Tokyo University of the Arts, graduating from department of sculpture in 1907. He set up a studio in Tokyo's Yanaka neighborhood, and began his sculpting career, entering the annual Bunten competitions of the Japan Art Academy. He drew attention almost immediately, winning prizes for eight consecutive Bunten exhibitions, beginning in 1908 with second-place for his sculpture Yami and in 1910 for Hakamori. He continued to create and exhibit Western-style sculptures, especially nudes, at the various official art exhibitions, and was also known for his portrait sculptures of notable people, such as of Shigenobu Okuma.
He was appointed to the Imperial Fine Arts Academy in 1919 and became a professor of his alma mater, Tokyo School of Fine Arts, in 1921, training many young sculptors there and at his own Asakura Choso Juku from 1920 to 1944. He was awarded the Order of Culture in 1948.
His daughters and became artists in their own right. Setsu became a painter and stage designer, and Kyoko became a sculptor. " Asakura's subjects are typically women. Her bronze sculptures are moving and poetic, with a striking intensity."
Asakura died in 1964 in Tokyo, aged 81.

Works

According to Penelope Mason's History of Japanese Art:

At the [National [Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo]]

There are two museums dedicated to his work:
Asakura had two daughters, Setsu Asakura, stage designer and painter, and Kyoko Asakura, a sculptor.