Title : Devastation

Artist : Kitaoka Fumio

Date : c. 1946-1947

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : Kitaoka Fumio was a member of Onchi Köshirö's (1891-1955) circle. During the war period, Kitaoka took a position teaching art in Manchuria, where he was influenced by the Chinese social realist style. Later, after he returned to Japan, he depicted his own war experiences. Unlike other artists active in the postwar period, Kitaoka used his art to express the terrible events he had witnessed. He used obscure colors, disturbing patterns and depicted depressed people, as seen in this print. Two other prints exhibited here by Kitaoka depict timeless, unidentified, and dream-like scenes. Overall, his oeuvre seems to represent something troubling and unreal, which perhaps was a reflection of the wartime trauma endured by Kitaoka. (2009)

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