S10
The Bay of Sasebo, Mt. Akasaki-dake
Oil on canvasboard
F8, 455cm x 380cm, 2005
The Bay of Sasebo, Mt. Akasaki-dake
Oil on canvasboard
F8, 455cm x 380cm, 2005
Susumu Takiguchi
Saturday 6 January 2007
SUSUMU TAKIGUCHI
1 January 2007
The solo-exhibition of my paintings in Sasebo, County of Nagasaki, Japan, “Canals of Venice, Sasebo Seas and English Rivers” 15 – 21 May 2006 went well.
The exhibition was officially endorsed and sponsored by the Education Authority of the City of Sasebo. It was also greeted warmly by the Mayor and the Deputy-Mayor and other relevant authorities as something of a ‘pride of the City’ (their words). This is partly because Sasebo is the place where I spent my infancy and almost all my primary school days until I moved to Saga in 1956, i.e. exactly 50 years ago. The exhibition was therefore nicknamed as ‘Coming home after 50 years’ absence’.
Since Sasebo was chosen as the location of my solo-show and since Sasebo’s seascapes were displayed along with the paintings of Venice and English landscapes, the citizens of this provincial town with the shipbuilding industry and Japanese and US naval bases became enthusiastic about the exhibition. More than 1,000 of them came to see my paintings including those from outside the county, some of them returning to it up to four times!
One was so inspired that she started to paint the flowers which were given to celebrate the exhibition and flooding the reception area. A little boy of less than two years of age who had begun to murmur suddenly started to pronounce words clearly, saying ‘kirei’ (lovely) in front of my painting of Venice.
Sensing such unusual reception, the press came in hot pursuit. Starting with an extensive advance article in the Daily Yomiuri, the largest newspaper in the world in terms of circulation, national and local newspapers and TV and radio scrambled into action, including NHK (the Japanese equivalent of BBC), Asahi Shimbun, Daily Nagasaki, Mainichi, Nagasaki TV, Life Sasebo and TV Sasebo.
Soon I became a sort of talk of the town! Putting up 100 paintings for the show was not an easy task. The last nine were not even completed until the eleventh hour and each of them was painted during my worst and most debilitating cold lasting for more than two months. Thankfully, all such efforts and hardships seem to have proven very rewarding indeed as the exhibition went from strength to strength in all aspects.
A large part which was a significant contributing factor to the success was played by what I call ‘the alumni power’ of my primary school-day classmates who spontaneously and voluntarily did everything to help to bring about exactly such a success. I renewed my friendship with them and through them and other kind people I made many new friends. One of them has kindly offered to display my paintings in her restaurant in Sasebo for twelve months. Similar arrangements were made with the Kamakura Kyoshi Tatsuko Memorial Museum near Tokyo, good news travelling fast.
The success also means that my next solo-exhibition has already been booked from 17 to 24 May 2007 in Sasebo at another City-owned cultural and conference complex, which is a modern building and extremely popular in the City. This time it will all be paintings of fruit and I am aiming at 100 to 150 works. I wish to make it a roving exhibition and will move it to Nagasaki City where my application has been accepted for the permission to hold a one-man show at the Nagasaki Prefectural Museum from 19 to 24 June 2007.
This is a brand new and ambitious museum at the famous Dejima district of the City, which was one of only two places in Japan (the other one being Hirado Island) through which overseas trade was permitted with Holland and China only under the strict isolationist policy over two centuries of the Tokugawa regime.
The Museum's popularity and importance seem to be rising almost every day and this one-man show therefore will make a high profile and prestigious event and is expected to raise my stature to national, and eventually, to international levels.
In addition to these plans, I will also be very busy doing paintings of other places and subjects. I did a lot of works in Mallorca when I recently visited the island and plan to show them in Japan in 2008. Other places and subjects include Woodstock (near Oxford), Rousham Village, Paris and Ireland.
1 January 2007
The solo-exhibition of my paintings in Sasebo, County of Nagasaki, Japan, “Canals of Venice, Sasebo Seas and English Rivers” 15 – 21 May 2006 went well.
The exhibition was officially endorsed and sponsored by the Education Authority of the City of Sasebo. It was also greeted warmly by the Mayor and the Deputy-Mayor and other relevant authorities as something of a ‘pride of the City’ (their words). This is partly because Sasebo is the place where I spent my infancy and almost all my primary school days until I moved to Saga in 1956, i.e. exactly 50 years ago. The exhibition was therefore nicknamed as ‘Coming home after 50 years’ absence’.
Since Sasebo was chosen as the location of my solo-show and since Sasebo’s seascapes were displayed along with the paintings of Venice and English landscapes, the citizens of this provincial town with the shipbuilding industry and Japanese and US naval bases became enthusiastic about the exhibition. More than 1,000 of them came to see my paintings including those from outside the county, some of them returning to it up to four times!
One was so inspired that she started to paint the flowers which were given to celebrate the exhibition and flooding the reception area. A little boy of less than two years of age who had begun to murmur suddenly started to pronounce words clearly, saying ‘kirei’ (lovely) in front of my painting of Venice.
Sensing such unusual reception, the press came in hot pursuit. Starting with an extensive advance article in the Daily Yomiuri, the largest newspaper in the world in terms of circulation, national and local newspapers and TV and radio scrambled into action, including NHK (the Japanese equivalent of BBC), Asahi Shimbun, Daily Nagasaki, Mainichi, Nagasaki TV, Life Sasebo and TV Sasebo.
Soon I became a sort of talk of the town! Putting up 100 paintings for the show was not an easy task. The last nine were not even completed until the eleventh hour and each of them was painted during my worst and most debilitating cold lasting for more than two months. Thankfully, all such efforts and hardships seem to have proven very rewarding indeed as the exhibition went from strength to strength in all aspects.
A large part which was a significant contributing factor to the success was played by what I call ‘the alumni power’ of my primary school-day classmates who spontaneously and voluntarily did everything to help to bring about exactly such a success. I renewed my friendship with them and through them and other kind people I made many new friends. One of them has kindly offered to display my paintings in her restaurant in Sasebo for twelve months. Similar arrangements were made with the Kamakura Kyoshi Tatsuko Memorial Museum near Tokyo, good news travelling fast.
The success also means that my next solo-exhibition has already been booked from 17 to 24 May 2007 in Sasebo at another City-owned cultural and conference complex, which is a modern building and extremely popular in the City. This time it will all be paintings of fruit and I am aiming at 100 to 150 works. I wish to make it a roving exhibition and will move it to Nagasaki City where my application has been accepted for the permission to hold a one-man show at the Nagasaki Prefectural Museum from 19 to 24 June 2007.
This is a brand new and ambitious museum at the famous Dejima district of the City, which was one of only two places in Japan (the other one being Hirado Island) through which overseas trade was permitted with Holland and China only under the strict isolationist policy over two centuries of the Tokugawa regime.
The Museum's popularity and importance seem to be rising almost every day and this one-man show therefore will make a high profile and prestigious event and is expected to raise my stature to national, and eventually, to international levels.
In addition to these plans, I will also be very busy doing paintings of other places and subjects. I did a lot of works in Mallorca when I recently visited the island and plan to show them in Japan in 2008. Other places and subjects include Woodstock (near Oxford), Rousham Village, Paris and Ireland.
S12Ninety-nine Islands, Sunset, Sasebo (6)
Oil on canvasboard
SM, 227cm x 158cm, 2005
Susumu Takiguchi
V29S. Maria della Salute & Canal Grande (7)
Oil on canvasboard
F6, 410cm x 318cm
2006
Susumu Takiguchi
V34
Rio S. Maria d. Giglio from Ponte Duodo
O Barberigo in the evening
Acrylic on canvasboard
20” x 16”, 508cm x 406cm, 2005
Susumu Takiguchi
V23
Reflections on Rio S. Maria d. Giglio & Ponte Duodo O barbarigo
Oil on canvasboard
SM, 158cm x 227cm, 2006
Susumu Takiguchi
V28
Twin Bridge over Rio di S. Maria Formosa
Oil on canvasboard
SM, 158cm x 227cm, 2006
Susumu Takiguchi
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