Yoshio Fujimaki | |
|---|---|
藤牧義夫 | |
| Born | January 19, 1911 |
| Disappeared | September 2, 1935 (aged 24) Mukojima-ku, Tokyo City, Empire of Japan (now Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan) |
| Status | Missing for 88 years, 6 months and 10 days |
| Resting place | Horin-ji, Asahi-cho, Tatebayashi, Gunma, Japan |
| Known for | Printmaking, missing person |
Yoshio Fujimaki（Japanese: 藤牧義夫、ふじまきよしお January 19, 1911 - disappeared September 2, 1935）was a Japanese printmaker who was part of the Sōsaku-hanga movement. He focused mainly on depicting the Shitamachi area of Tokyo during the 1930s, and is known for creating a long Hakubyō scroll print focusing on areas surrounding the Sumida River.[1] Fujimaki was considered the phantom woodblock printmaker for a long time as he had disappeared at the age of 24, but entered the limelight again after a posthumous exhibition was held in 1978.[1]
Born in modern-day Tatebayashi, Gunma.[2] The Fujimakis were a family of shizoku that served the Tatebayashi Han,[3] but Yoshio's father worked as an educator after the Meiji Restoration, including a tenure as the principal of an elementary school, and often created paintings and wrote calligraphy under the art name "Sangaku (Japanese: 三岳)". Fujimaki's mother died when he was the age of 2, and his father at 13. After his father passed away, the family started a daily goods store at their home. A neighbor of note at the time was Tenko Fujino, who lived two houses next to them.[clarification needed]
Fujimaki showed talent in artwork during his elementary school days and surprised those around him. After moving to Tokyo in 1927,[1] he became a disciple to a textile artist in Nihonbashi named Sota Sasaki,[1] and while he was studying commercial designs, he developed a unique printing style influenced by German expressionism. His most significant artwork is the Sumidagawa Emaki (Japanese: 隅田川絵巻) a 4-part scroll that totals 60 meters in length. Fujimaki disappeared in Tokyo at the age of 24.[2] His grave is located at Horinji at Asahi-cho, Tatebayashi. He was also a Kokuchūkai member, and left behind an artwork that depicted the religious group's headquarter titled Shinkoen (Japanese: 申孝園).[4]
After visiting fellow printmaker Tadashige Ono's home Fujimaki disappeared. Ono told his friends that Fujimaki suffered from poverty and sank in to the Sumida River, and on the pamphlet of the 1978 exhibition[full citation needed], Ono wrote that he told him that he canceled his room and entrusted him with two furoshiki wrappings before leaving. Ono's statement led to suspicions that he threw himself in to the Sumida River to commit suicide, but works focusing on Fujimaki's disappearance were published after the 2000s.
Fifty-six of his works are held in the permanent collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.[8]