Ei-Q

Ei-Q (瑛九, Eikyū, April 28, 1911 – March 10, 1960, in English occasionally "Q. Ei" or "Ei Kyu") was a Japanese artist who worked in a variety of media, including photography and engraving.

Life and career

Ei-Q, whose early work was done under his real name of Hideo Sugita (杉田 秀夫, Sugita Hideo), was born in Miyazaki-machi (now Miyazaki City), Miyazaki Prefecture on 28 April 1911.[1] In 1925 Sugita entered an art school in Tokyo to study western-style painting, and his criticism of western art started appearing in the art magazines Atelier and Mizue in 1927,[2] in which year he also left the school. In 1930 he entered a photography school and from then on pursued both painting and photography and more particularly photograms, first experimenting briefly with these in 1930, then dropping them in pursuit of painting, and then returning to them in 1936.[2]

Ei-Q was influenced by the Surrealist aesthetic and also published essays promoting photography as an art form independent of painting. This did not imply a rejection of painting, and he worked toward what in 1935 he termed photo-dessins, a fusion of photograms and paintings. A first collection of these, published in an edition of 40 in 1936 as Nemuri no riyū (眠りの理由, "the reason for sleep"), took him to the forefront of the Japanese avant garde.[3] Akiko Okatsuka rates Ei-Q (as he had named himself in 1935), together with Sutezō Otono, as standing out among the many Japanese exponents of photograms, unlike the majority able to use them for expressive rather than merely playful ends.[4] Ei-Q also contributed photograms and photography criticism to Photo Times. (Ei-Q also became an enthusiastic proponent of Esperanto at about the same time.)

Ei-Q set up the art organization Jiyū Bijutsu Kyōkai (自由美術協会) in 1937; this lasted until 1951.[5]

Ei-Q was able to resume his work after the war and in 1951 set up the group Democratic Artists Association (デモクラート美術家協会, Demokurāto Bijutsuka Kyōkai) in Osaka. Membership was by invitation only, but the idea was to promote the free expression of members, who included woodblock artists, designers, photographers and others. On Ei-Q's move from Osaka to Urawa later in the same year, the group set up a branch in nearby Tokyo as well; Eikoh Hosoe and Takeji Iwamiya then joined. The Association lasted until 1957, holding exhibitions of its works.[6]

Also in 1951 Ei-Q started etching and lithography; he would continue exploring new art media until his death.[5]

Ei-Q was also active in art education, in 1952 setting up Sōzō Biiku Kyōkai (創造美育協会).[5]

Ei-Q died on 10 March 1960.

Exhibitions

Works in permanent collections

Works by Ei-Q are in the permanent collections of the following institutions:

Books by and of Ei-Q

Notes

  1. ↑ Nihon shashinka jiten (日本写真家事典) / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers (Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000; ISBN 4-473-01750-8), p.61. (in Japanese) Despite its English-language alternative title, the book is in Japanese only. Biographical material is from this source where not otherwise noted.
  2. 1 2 Rei Masuda, "Japanese Photography of the 1920s and 1930s: Photographic Works of Koshiro Onchi, Osamu Shiihara and Ei-kyu", Modanizumu no kōseki: Onchi Kōshirō, Ei-Q / Traces of Light in Modernism: Koshiro Onchi, Osamu Shiihara and Ei-Kyu (Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1997), pp. 10–11.
  3. ↑ Luisa Orto, "Ei-Q (Sugita Hideo)", in Anne Wilkes Tucker, et al., The History of Japanese Photography (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003; ISBN 0-300-09925-8), p.336.
  4. ↑ Akiko Okatsuka, "Consciousness and the Expression of the Modern", in Nihon kindai shashin no seiritsu to tenkai (日本近代写真の成立と展開) / The Founding and Development of Modern Photography in Japan (Tokyo: Tokyo Museum of Photography, 1995), p.23.
  5. 1 2 3 Shashinka wa nani o hyōgen shita ka: 1945–1960 (写真家はなにを表現したか1945～1960, What were photographers expressing? 1945–1960; Tokyo: Konica Plaza, 1991), p.57. (in Japanese)
  6. ↑ Takako Matsuda, "Democratic Artists Association", in Tucker, et al., The History of Japanese Photography, p.371.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Shashinka wa nani o hyōgen shita ka: 1945–1960, p.57. This source does not specify the name of the gallery.
  8. ↑ Press release for the exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. (in Japanese). Accessed 6 March 2009.
  9. ↑ Website of the exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Saitama. (in Japanese). Accessed 6 March 2009.
  10. ↑ "Atarashii Fukuoka kenritsu bijutsukan no arikata ni tsuite" (新しい福岡県立美術館のあり方について, PDF file) (in Japanese) p.49. pref.fukuoka.lg.jp. Accessed 6 March 2009.
  11. ↑ Web page of the exhibition, Sayama Shiritsu Hakubutsukan. (in Japanese). Accessed 6 March 2009.
  12. ↑ List of exhibitions at Urawa Art Museum, Urawa Art Museum. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  13. ↑ Website of the exhibition, National Museum of Art, Osaka. (in Japanese). Accessed 6 March 2009.
  14. ↑ page about the exhibition, Kawagoe Gallery (Kawagoe). (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  15. ↑ Exhibition schedule for 2008, Friends (Tomo-no-Kai) of the Museum. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  16. ↑ List of exhibitions, Kawagoe Gallery (Kawagoe). (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  17. ↑ Norihiko Matsumoto (松本徳彦), ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon (日本の美術館と写真コレクション, Japan's art galleries and photography collections; Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2002; ISBN 4-473-01894-6) (in Japanese). P. 135.
  18. ↑ Matsumoto, ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon, p. 169.
  19. ↑ Ei-Q's work appears in this page about part of the museum's permanent collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  20. ↑ Mie Prefectural Art Museum at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  21. ↑ Matsumoto, ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon, p. 18.
  22. ↑ Miyakonojo City Museum of Art at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  23. ↑ Ei-Q's work was prominent in the museum's display of its permanent collection during the year 2008–2009: description, Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum (in Japanese). Accessed 6 March 2009.
  24. ↑ Nagashima Museum at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  25. ↑ Niigata City Art Museum at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  26. ↑ Chart (PDF file) showing all artists in the collection. Okawa Museum of Art. (in Japanese) Accessed 7 March 2009. (Ei-Q appears slightly to the right of and above the centre.)
  27. ↑ Matsumoto, ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon, pp. 32–33.
  28. ↑ Takamatsu City Museum of Art at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  29. ↑ Page on Ei-Q, Tokushima Art Museum. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  30. ↑ As denoted by Ei-Q's inclusion within Nihon shashinka jiten, without a disclaimer.
  31. ↑ MOCAT at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  32. ↑ Toneyama Kōjin Kinen Bijutsukan at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  33. ↑ Page about the museum's permanent collection, Urawa Art Museum. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  34. ↑ Matsumoto, ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon, p. 105.
  35. ↑ Yokohama Museum of Art at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
  36. ↑ Yokosuka Museum of Art at Art Collection. (in Japanese) Accessed 6 March 2009.
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