和田三造

Born in Ikuno-chō, Asago-gun, Hyogo prefecture (present-day Asago city), in 1883, the fourth and youngest son of his doctor father Bunseki 文碩. The eldest son and third son worked in the mining industry, while the second son Shōzō 正造’s talent at painting led to admission to Tokyo Fine Arts School (present-day Tokyo University of the Arts), he died at a young age. Sanzō was considerably influenced by Shōzō. He entered the primary school section of Ikuno-chō’s combined primary and senior school, but then since his eldest brother took a job with the mining industry in Ōmuta city, Fukuoka prefecture, the entire Wada family moved to Fukuoka city. In 1898 he entered the Shūyūkan middle school, and also attended the Meidōkan judo academy. The following year he left Fukuoka and traveled to Tokyo where he lodged with Nagao Ken’kichi of the Isogaya Shoten sign making shop. He began study in the special division of the Hakubakai Oil Painting Institute, and entered the Yōga department of Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1901. That same year he entered his “Byōfu” (Ill Father 病父) (whereabouts unknown) in the Sixth Hakubakai exhibition. Along with some fellow Tokyo Fine Arts School students—Kumagai Morikazu, Hashimoto Kunisuke and Tsuji Hisashi—he set up household in Iriya, Shitaya-ku, Tokyo. While on a boat trip to Hachijō-jima island in June 1902, the vessel he was on was hit by a fierce storm and they drifted for three days before washing up on Ōshima island. This experience led to his creation of “Nanpū” (South Wind) (Important Cultural property [ICP], 1907, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). In July 1904 he graduated from the Tokyo Fine Arts School. In 1905 Sanzō, Hashimoto Kunisuke, and Tsuji Hisashi began publishing the “L.S.” magazine. That same year he entered “Izu Ōshima Scene” 伊豆大島風景 and “Bokujō no banki” (Returning at Dusk from the Pasture) 牧場の晩帰 (both whereabouts unknown) in the Hakubakai’s Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, and he was awarded a Hakubakai Prize. In 1907 he meant to enter “Fishermen”, a work based on themes from Ōshima and Zushi, in the Tokyo Kangyō Hakurankai (Tokyo Industrial Exposition), but was not able to complete it in time, instead producing “South Wind” for display in the autumn’s First Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition (Bunten). It is said that his encounters with the indescribable scenery on Ōshima when he was shipwrecked led him to sail to Ōshima a total of four times in the process of completing the work. Using the outdoor light expression of the Hakubakai painters, considered to be the new school at the time, his “South Wind” with its heroic, powerful composition was highly praised as an excellent work brimming with youthful vigor, and it was awarded a top prize at the exhibition (Second Prize 二等賞). Its favorable review may also have been based on its appropriateness for the spirit of the day, a time that was experiencing rapid modernization and a rising awareness of national identity after Japan's victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. The following year his Second Bunten entry, “Ikun” 煒燻(Metal Casting) (whereabouts unknown), was both praised and denounced, but Wada was once again awarded the top ranking Second Prize at the exhibition and, rare for an art student, he was given government funding for study abroad. The Ministry of Education granted him funds for two years of study in France and Italy in 1909. In Europe he did not come to unquestionably believe in the West, instead his travels only made him all the more aware of Asia. He returned to Japan later than originally planned, in 1915, and more so than Europe, he was most strongly affected by his time in Singapore and India. After returning to Japan Wada focused not only on oil painting but also on various other media. He challenged himself to create Nihonga (Japanese-style paintings) on primarily Asian themes, and even painted his oil paintings on paper rather than on canvas, experimenting with coating the paper with “tonoko” (powdered burnt clay or pulverized whetstone) to avoid oil pigment’s distinctive sheen. In 1917 he was commissioned to create the interior decoration for the Matsumoto Kenjirō residence (ICP, former Matsumoto family home, Kokura, Kita-Kyushu city) and decided to use “nanban-e sarasa”, a type of imported printed cotton. Saitō Ioe, Yamagata Komatarō, Kusamitsu Nobushige, and Kyōgen 京源 textile artists cooperated with Wada on the project. After its completion the project generated reactions from all regions. Wada later acted as producer on various other projects. Around 1920 he opened a Senshoku Geijutsu Kenkyūjo (textile arts research center) with the backing of Takashimaya department stores and was involved in the production of drop curtains for the Shimbashi Enbujō (Tokyo) and the Shin-Kabukiza (Tokyo) theaters. In 1921 he was commissioned to produce the wall paintings for the Joseon Government-General building (Gyeongseong, present-day Seoul, present-day National Museum of Korea) and created various types of preparatory drawings(now in the collection of the National Museum of Korea). In 1926 Wada and Ōnishi Toyojirō went to Seoul for the installation of the work. With subject matter taken from the “Hagoromo” (feather garments) legend shared by Japan and Korea, the project was completed with a uniquely Wada-style combination of Tosa paper, linen, Nihonga pigments, and oil pigments. In 1927 Wada established the Japan Standard Color Association (present-day Japan Color Research Institute), which published “Shikimei Sōkan” (Shunjūsha, 1931), and “Haishoku Sōkan” (Hakubisha, 1933–34), and worked on various color research projects. In 1931 Wada was commissioned by the Asahi Shimbun company to gather information and images related to the Mukden Incident and the Ministry of the Army commissioned him to produce record images of the events. In 1932 he took up duties as a lecturer in the design department at Tokyo Fine Arts School. It is said that he was initially offered a position in the Yōga department, but only agreed if it were a position in the design department. He was put in charge of the plan for how Japan would participate in the 1937 Exposition Internationale des arts et techniques dans la vie Moderne in Paris, and was made the director of the commercial section of the Japanese pavilion. He contacted artisans from various Japanese regions and mediated the selection of works to be displayed in Paris. That same year he supervised “Dai Nippon Gyorui Gashū” (Great Japanese Fish Picture Compendium) (drawn by Ōno Bakufū, 1937–1944), published by the woodblock print publisher Nishinomiya Shoin. In 1939 the same publisher began publishing his “Shōwa Shokugyō Ezukushi” (Occupations of Shōwa Japan in Pictures Illustrated Enumeration of Vocations) (1939–1941). Wada also designed the poster for the Tokyo Olympics that were scheduled to be held in 1940 but were ultimately canceled. Thus he was involved in a dizzying array of different kinds of projects. In the postwar era he continued to put effort into Nihonga and woodblock prints, and in 1953 was made the color consultant for Daiei’s film “Zigokumon” (Gate of Hell) (directed by Kinugasa Sadanosuke), which resulted in an Academy Award in 1955 for Best Costume Design. In 1956 he established the Kyoto Ukiyoe Dōga Kenkyūjo (Kyoto Ukiyo-e and Animation Research Center) and jumped into anime production. In 1958 the Japanese Government named him a Person of Cultural Merit. Wada is generally known as a Western-style painter who created “South Wind” (ICP), and while is true that few can think of anything but “South Wind” when his other accomplishments are mentioned, this might be partly because other major works, such as “Returning at Dusk from the Pasture” 牧場の晩帰 and “Metal Casting” 煒燻 are no longer extant. And yet, Wada himself was aware that his own individual nature was that of an enterprising polymath talent capable of the above-mentioned color research, textile arts, Nihonga, woodblock prints, film, and animation. He did not intend to be simply a painter who only developed on a trajectory from “South Wind”. Many artists born in the Meiji period were active in multiple fields and Wada can surely be considered one of the typical examples of such multi-talented individuals. (Hirase Reita / Translated by Martha J. McClintock) (Published online: 2024-03-06)