柚木沙弥郎 YUNOKI Samiro 1922–2024

1922年東京生まれ。1942年、東京帝国大学文学部美学・美術史科に入学するが、翌年学徒動員。終戦後、1946年に岡山県倉敷市にある大原美術館に勤務。柳宗悦が提唱する「民藝」との出会いを機に、芹沢銈介に弟子入りし染色の道を志す。1955年、銀座のたくみ工芸店画廊にて初個展。以降50年以上にわたり制作を続け、数多くの作品を発表する。1972年、女子美術大学の教授に就任、1987年に学長に就任（91年退職）。2008年から3年連続で、パリのGALERIE L'EUROPEで個展を開催し、高い評価を得る。2013年には世田谷美術館で開催した「いのちの旗じるし」が好評を博す。2014年フランス国立ギメ東洋美術館に作品80点が収蔵。同館にて個展「La danse des forms － Textile de SamiroYunoki」も開催。
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Samiro Yunoki was born in 1922. In 1947 he began to work at the Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture, a town with rich traditions and a centre of Japanese folk crafts (mingei). While at the museum Yunoki saw a calendar designed by Keisuke Serizawa, a master craftsman in the art of stencil-dyeing (katazome). The calendar featured bold patterns printed on rich textured handmade paper. This inspired Yunoki to study the mingei traditions being revived under the guidance of Soetsu Yanagi in a group which included the potters Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. Yunoki decided to devote himself to the study of katazome and armed himself with a letter of introduction from Yanagi when he traveled to Tokyo to meet of Yui in Shizuoka prefecture, not far from Mount Fuji.
In 1949 Yunoki exhibited at the Kokugakai Tenrankai (a society exhibiting Japanese Arts and Crafts), and has continued to do so ever since eventually becoming its President. In 2003 he led the society in presenting the opening exhibition of the Baillie Scott house, Blackwell on the shores of Windermere following its refurbishment.
Yunoki was elected President of the Women’s College of Fine Art in Tokyo, a position he held until his retirement in 1991. He has held two exhibitions in Paris in recent years and most recently exhibited at the Setagaya Art Museum in Tokyo in May 2013.
< from Yunoki Samiro's website >