Bold compositions with "lines"

Fuji Gallery Shinjuku, located on the basement floor of the Hilton Tokyo in Nishi-Shinjuku, will host (Ms.) Yoshiko Shimada’s solo exhibition entitled “From Sumi to Sumi” (`Sumi` meaning Japanese calligraphy ink) from Saturday 7th September until Sunday 29th September 2024.

Yoshiko Shimada is a Fusuma artist. (`Fusuma` meaning a sliding wooden door covered with Japanese paper). She majored in Japanese painting at Kanazawa College of Art, then worked at a design company and in the art department of a theatre company, and is now an artist working mainly on Fusuma-e (sliding door paintings). Encountering the mineral pigments used for preliminary sketches at her mother's family home, which was a Nishijin-ori weaving workshop in Kyoto and then frequently visiting the Kaga Yuzen dyeing workshop run by her relatives in Kanazawa, where she spent much time from her later elementary school years, naturally led her to pursue the path of Japanese painting. Even though she relocated to the Kanto region a long time ago, the beautiful and delicate details of Kanazawa's nature, as well as the traditional culture that thrives in Kanazawa's streets, continue to have a significant impact on her Fusuma (sliding door) paintings.

「墨no.22」（Sumi No.22）
パネル、墨、箔、膠、越前鳥の子襖紙
910×727mm

As a Fusuma artist, she maximizes the charm of materials such as Sumi, mineral pigments, mica, and metal foil on Echizen washi paper, leaving tense blank spaces and drawing with flowing lines, often with the theme of flowers and plants. However, in this exhibition, she chooses Sumi as a theme. Since ancient times, it has been said that "Sumi contains five colors", emphasizing the rich expressions of Sumi. She will be presenting Sumi works proudly composed with stroking lines that have long captivated her while cherishing the accidental expressions of "bleeding," "scraping," and "pooling" of Sumi.

襖紙・墨・箔・膠
148×210mm

Yoshiko Shimada Profile

As a fusuma painter, she creates hand-painted fusuma and folding screen paintings to order, as well as fans, circle paintings and hanging scrolls; from 1991 to 2020, she was in charge of fusuma pattern design at Yushima Art. Major solo exhibitions include "Night of hand-painted sliding door paintings" (Ginza, 2004).