福田平八郎

Born on February 28, 1892 (Meiji 25), at Ōaza Danoharu 486-banchi, Nishi-Ōita-machi, Ōita-gun (present-day Ōji Naka-machi 3-17, Ōita city), the first son of father Umatarō 馬太郎 and mother An. In 1898 (Meiji 31) he entered the elementary school affiliated with the Ōita Prefectural Normal School. In 1900 (Meiji 33) the Normal School was moved to a new building in Kasugaura. Around that time the Fukuda family also moved to the area by the front gates of that school (present-day Ōji Nakamachi 8-39, Ōita city) and opened a stationery store. In 1902 (Meiji 35) Heihachirō finished elementary school and advanced to the higher elementary school. In 1906 (Meiji 39) he graduated from that upper level and entered the Ōita Prefectural Ōita Middle School. In 1910 (Meiji 43) it was decided that he should repeat his third year in that middle school. Shutō Ukō, an instructor at the Ōita Prefectural Normal School Elementary School and a previous lodger in the Fukuda household, persuaded Heihachirō’s parents to let him set out for Kyoto hoping to become an artist. He went with a letter of invitation from Takakura Kangai, a graduate of Kyoto City Technical School of Art (present-day Kyoto City University of Arts), and there he relied on his father’s cousin who lived in Kyoto. But by that point in the year the Kyoto City Technical School of Art’s test period had already passed, and instead he entered the special course 別科 of the Kyoto City Technical School of Painting (present-day Kyoto City University of Arts). The following year he was able to enter the Kyoto City Technical School of Art. He graduated from that school in 1915 (Taishō 4). His graduation work, “After the Rain” 雨後 was purchased by the school. That same year he advanced to the upper division of the Kyoto City Technical School of Painting. He built a superb painting portfolio, and while in school submitted “Girls and Peach Tree” 桃と女 to the Tenth Ministry of Education Art Exhibition (Bunten) in 1916 (Taishō 5) (Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo) and “Donkey and Children” 驢馬と子供 to the Eleventh Bunten held in 1917 (Taishō 6) (whereabouts unknown). Both were rejected by their respective exhibitions. He graduated from Kyoto City Technical School of Painting in 1918 (Taishō 7). He set off on a graduation trip to Shimabara Peninsula in Nagasaki prefecture. His “Menyō” 緬羊 (Sheep) (1918, Oita Prefectural Art Museum) depicting sheep he saw on Mt. Unzen was his entry to the Twelfth Bunten but it too was rejected. This work was the first time that he used his real name Heihachirō as his “gō” (art name). He had previously used Kyūshū and Sosen as his “gō”. In 1919 (Taishō 8) the Bunten was reorganized and became the First Teiten (Imperial Art Exhibition), and Heihachirō received his first acceptance for his submission “Snow” (whereabouts unknown). He entered “Carp” (Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan, Tokyo) in the Third Teiten in 1921 (Taishō 10) where it was awarded “tokusen” (special status) and purchased by the Imperial Household Ministry. That work depicts carp at the surface of the water and beneath the water through an intricate differentiation of colors to show depth differences and thus created a realistic effect without actually painting the water itself. The painting catapulted him to such fame as a Nihonga (Japanese-style paintings) painter he briefly retreated to his hometown of Ōita to escape the clamor. In 1922 (Taishō 11) he married Taniguchi Tei, and they moved into a new house in Shimogamo Nishihonmachi, Kyoto. That year he became a member of the Kyūmeikai九名会, selected from the promising artists of the day who included Kikuchi Keigetsu, Nishiyama Suishō, and Nishimura Goun. The group’s nine members were Itō Sōhaku, Dōmoto Inshō, Tonouchi Mishō, Okamoto Shinsō, Nakamura Daizaburō, Uda Tekison, Yamaguchi Kayō, Yamamoto Kōun, and Fukuda Heihachirō. He entered “Crane” (whereabouts unknown) in that year’s Fourth Teiten, it was granted “suisen” (recommended), and from then on he was given unjudged entry to future Teiten exhibitions. He was named an exhibition committee member when the Teiten was re-organized in 1924 (Taishō 13). That same year he took on two teaching roles, as assistant professor at the Kyoto City Technical School of Painting and as a teacher at the Kyoto City Technical School of Art. “Peonies” (Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo), painted that year and entered in the Fifth Teiten, also marked his first year as a member of that exhibition’s judging committee. In 1928 (Shōwa 3) he went to China, where he spent about a month visiting Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Dalian, Lushun, and Fengtian. He was greatly stimulated by the natural scenery of the Chinese continent, and changes appeared in his painting style through the course of that journey. In 1929 he entered “Corn” (whereabouts unknown) in the Tenth Teiten. A complete change from his previously intricate style, this work is a powerful representation of the life force of nature, as seen in corn blowing in a seasonal breeze and a sky dappled with clouds. Around the same time as this stylistic change, he participated in the Rikuchōkai 六潮会, founded in 1930 (Shōwa 5), as a pan-affiliation association of Nihonga painters, Western-style painters and critics. The members were Nakagawa Kigen, Kimura Shōhachi, Togari Soshin’an, Yokokawa Kiichirō, Nakamura Gakuryō, Yamaguchi Hōshun, Makino Torao, and Fukuda Heihachirō. This affiliation was a turning point in his artistic career. The Rikuchōkai held exhibitions from 1932 (Shōwa 7) through 1940 (Shōwa 15). Heihachirō’s close interactions with Western-style painters and Kantō art circles provided fresh stimulus, breaking wide open his previously restricted field of vision and customs. He displayed his “Sazanami” (Ripples) (Important Cultural Property, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka) in the Thirteenth Teiten held in 1932 (Shōwa 7). The painting presents light reflected on water, with wave movements and a mirror-like surface created solely through a silver ground and an exquisitely sparse array of ultramarine lines. He completely omits all explanatory scenic motifs, as this work smashes through traditional nihonga via its revolutionary use of simple colors and forms to express a single moment in nature that we all can remember experiencing. He acquired this type of novel, clear expression through an objective view of nature. The year before he displayed “Sazanami” (Ripples) he started fishing, and that became a lifelong hobby. Thus this work was inspired by the ripples on the lake surface that he saw while fishing. In 1934 he entered “Irises” (National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto) in the Fifteenth Teiten. In 1936 (Shōwa 11) he became a professor at Kyoto City Technical School of Painting, but then had to resign that position the following year due to ill health. From then on he focused solely on painting production. That same year his mother An died. Around that time he seems to have shed the subdued palette of his Taishō period works and began to frequently use a brighter, clearer color scheme. Especially in his works of the Shōwa 10s, he used a novel color interpretation gained through detailed sketching from life and enlivened his compositions through such colors as he experimented with paintings that intentionally incorporated clearer, more simplified color compositions. In 1938 (Shōwa 13) he entered “Green Persimmons” 青柿 (Kyoto City Museum of Art) in the Second Shin-Bunten (Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition). He used his own distinctive, vivid color separation to depict the color of persimmon leaves in all their variations seen under a strong summer sun. In 1940 (Shōwa 15) he entered “Bamboo” in the exhibition held to commemorate the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese imperial line (Kigen nisenroppyakunen hōshuku bijutsu tenrankai). That work used an interplay of colorful bamboo colors to overturn the usual bamboo equals use of “rokushō” (malachite green) approach. In 1946 (Shōwa 21) his father Umatarō馬太郎 died. For the Third Nitten (The Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) held in 1947 he entered “Bamboo Shoots” (Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo) with its particularly decorative yet powerful image of two lacquer black bamboo shoots set against a background of bamboo leaves. The following year, 1948 (Shōwa 23) he entered “Fresh Snow” (Oita Prefectural Art Museum) in the Fourth Nitten. This work on the theme of newly fallen snow piling up on garden rocks is a simplified composition made up solely of the garden rock forms, and the realistic depiction of light, airy new snow. During this time he was named a member of the Teikoku Geijutsuin (Imperial Art Academy) in 1947 (Shōwa 22) and then a director of the Nitten in 1949 (Shōwa 24). That same year he was awarded the First Mainichi Art Prize for a series of his works, including “Fresh Snow.” In 1950 (Shōwa 25) he entered “Cloud” (Oita Prefectural Art Museum) in the Sixth Nitten, and “Red Maples” (Reiyukai Myōichi Memorial Hall, Tokyo) in the following year’s Seventh Nitten. In 1953 (Shōwa 28) he displayed “Rain” (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) in the Ninth Nitten exhibition. This painting depicts raindrops evaporating as they fall on scorching hot roof tiles. The geometric composition created by the horizontal and vertical lines of the roof tiles combines with the momentary natural phenomenon. He entered “Carp” (Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation, Tokyo) in the Tenth Nitten held in 1954 (Shōwa 29). He entered “Ice” (private collection, on deposit at the Oita Prefectural Art Museum) in the Third International Art Exhibition Japan held in 1955 (Shōwa 30). The striped design of thin ice on a puddle of water is the interesting focal point of that work. He entered “Water” (Oita Prefectural Art Museum) in the First Shin-Nitten held in 1958 (Shōwa 33). He captured the wavering changes of constantly shifting water through bold color fields of blue and green. That same year he became the executive director of the Nitten. In 1959 (Shōwa 34), an exhibition featuring his own selection of his works was held at the Matsuya, Ginza. From the Shōwa 20s through the first half of the Shōwa 30s, he created such major mature period works as “Fresh Snow”, “Rain”, and “Water”, each made up of simplified, clear compositions, each capturing the essence of natural phenomenon that resonated with his own feelings, each based on his detailed observation and sketching from life. His approach to painting, repeatedly depicting the same themes, ceaselessly honing his sensitivity, and deepening his concept, resulted in his postwar modern painting style with its novel vantage point. In 1961 (Shōwa 36) he entered his “Study of Fallen Blossoms” (National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto) in the Fourth Shin-Nitten. This was his final entry in a Nitten exhibition, as he then turned to the display of his works in small exhibitions held by galleries or department stores. His painting style, unfettered by realism or composition and reflecting the free sentiments of his late years, was characterized by a generous, peaceful mood rendered in richly colorful forms. In 1961 he was awarded the Order of Culture and was listed as a Person of Cultural Merit. He also was named the first Honorary Citizen of Ōita City. In 1963 (Shōwa 38) his wife Tei died. Around the spring of 1965 (Shōwa 40) his lower legs began to hurt. So in the summer of 1967 (Shōwa 42) he went to Beppu Onsen (Ōita prefecture) for rehabilitation of his lower legs. In 1968 (Shōwa 43) he completed “Bamboo” for the Take no Ma room of the new Imperial Palace. That same autumn, he went for rehabilitation at Tōgō Onsen in Tottori prefecture. In 1969 (Shōwa 44) he was made an advisor to the newly reorganized Nitten. In 1972 (Shōwa 47) he went for rehabilitation to Gero Onsen in Gifu prefecture. In 1973 (Shōwa 48) he visited Fukiji, Usuki, and Inukai in Ōita prefecture. That was his final trip to his homeland. That same year he was made an Honorary Citizen of Kyoto City. On March 22, 1974 (Shōwa 49) he died of pneumonia at Kyoto National Hospital. He was 82 years old. His posthumous Buddhist name is彩光院殿照誉春雪馬安大居士. His remains are buried at Hōnen’in, Shishigatani, Kyoto and Saiōji, Ōita. (Munakata Shinsaku / Translated by Martha J. McClintock) (Published online: 2024-08-16)