芹沢銈介

On May 13, 1895 (Meiji 28), Serizawa Keisuke was born the second of six sons of the kimono and textiles wholesaler Ōishi Kakujirō in Hontōri 1-chome, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka city. Thus, his original family name was Ōishi. At the age of 21 he married into and became the adopted son-in-law of the Serizawa family of Anzai 1-chome, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka city, and took on the Serizawa family name. His birth family’s Ōishi shop was a leading kimono company in Shizuoka city and they were considered “wealthy merchants.” His grandfather and father both enjoyed collecting calligraphy, paintings and antiques, and would often invite painters and calligraphers to come and stay at their home. Thus, it is thought that Serizawa was raised in a major Shizuoka city shop that saw large gatherings of people, and watched both his grandfather and father enjoy collecting calligraphy and painting. These experiences greatly influenced him later in life. It seems that Serizawa displayed painting talent from childhood and during his time at the Shizuoka Prefectural Shizuoka Middle School he formed a “Seichū gakai” painting club and learned how to paint watercolors from Yamamoto Masao. He was said to have been such a painting fan that one day he pretended to go to school, but instead got on a train, and went to Tokyo to look at art exhibitions for a day, returning home gaunt faced from not having eaten all day. In the first half of his twenties, he said that he wanted to go to Paris to learn how to paint, clear indication that from childhood to young adulthood he dreamed of becoming a painter. But just before he graduated from school, his birth family’s home was destroyed by fire in March 1913 (Taishō 2), and instead of his dream of studying in Paris, that July he entered the Technical Drafting Department at Tokyo Higher Technical School (present-day Tokyo Institute of Technology). Serizawa excelled at mathematics, and his uncle in Tokyo recommended that he study applied chemistry. But ultimately he could not give up painting, so instead he decided to enter the Industrial Design course and thus set himself on the path to becoming a designer. After graduating in 1916 (Taishō 5), he returned to Shizuoka city, where he taught drafting and design work at the Shizuoka Industrial Research Institute 静岡県静岡工業試験場 and the Shizuoka Industrial High School. In January 1921 (Taishō 10) he began work as a technician at the Osaka Commercial Museum and had a busy professional and private life there. But stating, “I was unable to adjust to the land or its position” (Serizawa Keisuke, “Nenpu” [Chronology], “Jisen Serizawa Keisuke sakuhinshū ge” [Compendium of Serizawa Keisuke’s Works Selected by the Artist], Tsukijishokan, 1968), he quit and returned to Shizuoka after less than two years. During his time in Osaka he became interested in handwork, such as creating clothing for his own children which included designing the cloth to be used. After returning home he gathered the women in the neighborhood and started the handicraft group Konohanakai. Serizawa directed the group and the members made items that ranged from cushion covers to tablecloths, wall hangings, bags and knit toys. The Konohanakai sent works to the Shufu no Tomo Company’s National Domestic Handicrafts Exhibitions 主婦の友社主催全国家庭手芸品展覧会, where they received the top prizes two years in a row, 1925 (Taishō 14) and 1926 (Taishō 15). The Konohanakai was also involved in textile design using wax-resist dyeing, “shibori” dyeing, and “han sarasa” (woodblock-printed versions of Southeast Asian batik dyeing) techniques. Through his involvement in these processes Serizawa’s interests gradually focused on textile dyeing. Serizawa had a collector’s instincts, and he enjoyed collecting craftworks from the first half of his twenties until his final years. It is said that this collecting began because there were “netsuke” (sash toggles) and “yatate” (brush and ink carriers) in the storehouse at the Serizawa family that he married into. The “yatate” were all kept polished and stored on specially made shelves. Then several years later his interest shifted to the small “ema” votive plaques that can be found nationwide at Shinto shrines, and he became known as a small votive plaque collector in the prewar era. In 1927 (Shōwa 2) Yanagi Muneyoshi (Sōetsu) (1889–1961) visited Serizawa’s home to see this collection of small votive plaques. Religious philosophy scholar and leader of the Mingei movement, Yanagi discerned a healthy beauty in the handicrafts created by ordinary Japanese, so he promoted the idea of leading contemporary lives amidst arrangements of such items, and thus filling the world with healthy beauty from the level of everyday living. Serizawa resonated with Yanagi’s sensibilities, became one of the main members of the Nihon Mingei Kyōkai (The Japan Folk Craft Association), and also received advice from Yanagi on his later works production. Then in 1928 (Shōwa 3) Serizawa saw the vivid dyeing and “bingata” fabrics of Okinawa, sensing in them a familiarity, a feeling of having come home. These events — Yanagi’s visit and the discovery of Okinawan textiles — made Serizawa decide to become a dyer. He debuted as a dyer with his entry in the Fourth Kokugakai exhibition in 1929 (Shōwa 4), “Indigo Ground Wall Hanging with Vegetables Design” 紺地蔬菜文壁掛 (whereabouts of original work unknown), which received selected status, and was awarded a Kokuga Encouragement prize 国画奨学賞. Under Yanagi’s direction, he was put in charge of the front cover designs for “Kōgei” magazine in 1931 (Shōwa 6), producing the front covers for its inaugural issue through the twelfth issue. In 1932 (Shōwa 7) he created such major early period works as “Wall Hanging with Fruit and Vegetable Design” and “Aesop’s Fables.” In March 1934 (Shōwa 9) he and his family moved to Nishikamata Ohtaku, Tokyo, where he would live for the rest of his life. Given that Serizawa originally liked intricate, accurate expression, and was the type who continually honed and refined to finish a work, his Shizuoka period works have an introspective mood. His teacher Yanagi did not like Serizawa’s tendency to overly arrange and fit everything into neat forms, and so he used his critiques to urge Serizawa to aim for works that “broke free of constraints.” Serizawa’s style underwent a major change in 1939 (Shōwa 14), when he spent about two months in Naha city, Okinawa prefecture, studying “bingata” techniques onsite, and spending days totally immersed in the Okinawan climate and culture. Shifting to a bright, easygoing form, Serizawa’s work then connected to his later style. Serizawa’s home, all of his works prior to that date, and his craft collection were destroyed by the April 1945 (Shōwa 20) firebombing of Tokyo. For the next approximately six years, he was forced to live in the homes of others. During this period the lack of fabric and workspace meant that he was unable to work as he wanted, and he made a living by creating stenciled Japanese paper calendars and Christmas cards, as well as designing book jackets or book illustrations. In 1951 (Shōwa 26) he returned once again to his Tokyo hometown of Kamata, and there he was able to set up a studio in his home in 1955 (Shōwa 30). At long last he had an environment where he could happily work. In 1956 (Shōwa 31), at the age of 61, he was named a Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Properties (Living National Treasure) for his “kataezome” stencil dyeing technique. This distinction gave him nationwide name recognition and around that time his work began to follow a set path. Many of his later, widely known major works were created after his Living National Treasure designation. Examples of such include “Noren (doorway curtain): Kaze (the character “wind”)” 風の字のれん (1957), “Kimono: Tai Oyogumon (pattern of swimming sea bream)” 鯛泳ぐ文着物 (1964), and “Two-fold Screen: Shiki Mandarazu (Mandala of the Four Seasons)” 四季曼荼羅図二曲屏風 (1971). Serizawa actively produced works up until his final years, creating an oeuvre rich in both quantity and quality, one by no means just “kataezome” (stencil dyeworks). He produced a considerable number of paintings, along with richly decorated glass paintings and panel paintings. Among these works his “tebikaechō” sketch notebooks were particularly highly regarded by such painters as Sugimoto Kenkichi and Balthus. His many design projects indicate that he was not only adept at book design and commercial design, but also three-dimensional design. An example of the latter can be seen in his design, including interior decoration, display cases, lighting, and seating design, for the Ohara Museum of Art – Craft Art Gallery and Asiatic Art Gallery in Kurashiki, Okayama prefecture. He was also a renowned collector, acquiring more than 6,000 craftworks from around the world in the postwar era. In particular, from 1965 (Shōwa 40) onward, he collected at the pace of about one work per day. For Serizawa, whose desire to create works continued to burn bright even into his eighties, collecting was an important source of inspiration when he turned to creating his own works. The selection of each piece so fully expressed Serizawa’s tastes that, when viewed as a whole, his collection appears as if it were his own artistic creation. As seen in the Ohara Museum of Art’s 1978-1979 event “Serizawa Keisuke’s Collection — Another Creation,” exhibitions of just works from his own collection have also been held. Two directions appear in Serizawa’s “kataezome” work. One is the aim of creating superb artworks through “kataezome,” the other is to use “kataezome” to mass-produce inexpensive works and see them distributed to the general public. His establishment of the Serizawa Somegami Kenkyūjo (Serizawa Dyed Paper Research Institute) 芹沢染紙研究所 in his own home was an experiment in the latter and can be called one of his unforgettable artistic achievements. Young people from all over Japan gathered there to use the stencils that he made to mass-produce calendars, round fans, greeting cards, wrapping paper, and other products to be sold at affordable prices. His calendars were the main product of this process, becoming extremely popular both in Japan and overseas. In busy years they produced 10,000 twelve-sheet sets. These works can be seen as the realization of Yanagi Muneyoshi’s Mingei philosophy, handmade works personifying healthy beauty taken around the world. In 1976 (Shōwa 51) Serizawa was named a Person of Cultural Merit, and that same year a major retrospective Serizawa exhibition was held for eighty days in the Grand Palais, Paris, to great acclaim. In 1981 the Shizuoka City Serizawa Keisuke Art Museum opened in Toro, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka city. In 1981 (Shōwa 56) he received the “L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officier)” award from the French government. Also in 1983, the “Serizawa Keisuke Zenshū,” a 31-volume compendium, was published by Chūō Kōronsha. On April 5, 1984 (Shōwa 59), Serizawa Keisuke died at the age of 88. (Shiratori Seiichirō / Translated by Martha J. McClintock) (Published online: 2024-03-19) Note: Except where specifically identified, all works mentioned in this article are in the Shizuoka City Serizawa Keisuke Art Museum collection.