Shoji Sekine

Western-style painter. Along with Murayama Kaita, he is known as an unconventional painter who died young and who symbolizes the Taisho period. He was born on April 3, 1899 in Onuma Village, Fukushima Prefecture (now Shirakawa City). When he was in elementary school, his family moved to Tokyo and he lived in Fukagawa. After graduating, he joined the design department of the Tokyo Printing Company, where his friend Ito Shinsui worked. He started out painting Japanese-style paintings, but eventually switched to Western-style painting, attending the Hongo Painting Institute and the Pacific Art Association Institute. He was moved by art books by the great Renaissance masters, and exhibited his works at the Nikaten Exhibition in 1915 (Taisho 4). However, he was awakened to the power of color when he saw the works of Yasui Sotaro, who had been in Europe and were on special display at the same exhibition. He is said to have also published the literary magazine "Flames" with students of Maeda Yugure. In 1918, despite his declining health due to surgery for sinusitis, a broken heart, and other factors, he exhibited "Sorrow of Faith," "Sister and Brother," and "Self-Portrait" at the autumn Nikaten Exhibition, and received the Chogyu Prize. His expressionism, full of fantasy and poetic feeling, was also evident in "Three Stars" and "Children" the following year, but he passed away on June 16, 1919, at the age of just 20 due to pulmonary tuberculosis.

[Tadao Ogura]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

洋画家。村山槐多(かいた)とともに大正期を象徴する夭折(ようせつ)の異色画家として知られる。明治32年4月3日福島県大沼村（現白河市）に生まれる。小学校時代に一家上京し深川に住む。卒業後、友人伊東深水(しんすい)の勤めていた東京印刷会社図案部に入る。初め日本画を描くが、やがて洋画に転じ、本郷絵画研究所や太平洋画会研究所に通う。ルネサンスの巨匠たちの画集に感動し、1915年（大正4）二科展に出品するが、同展特別陳列の安井曽太郎(そうたろう)滞欧作を見て色彩に開眼する。また前田夕暮(ゆうぐれ)の門下生らと文芸誌『炎(ほのお)』を刊行したという。18年蓄膿症(ちくのうしょう)の手術、失恋ほかで健康を失いつつも、秋の二科展に『信仰の悲しみ』『姉弟』『自画像』を出品、樗牛(ちょぎゅう)賞を受けた。その幻想と詩感に満ちた表現主義は、翌年の『三星』『子供』にも発揮されるが、この大正8年6月16日、肺結核のためにわずか20歳の生涯を閉じた。

［小倉忠夫］

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