チェコの絵本 同時開催:
脇田和の絵本原画展 展覧会内容

2024年10月12日(土)〜 11月24日(日)

脇田和、デッサンと絵本と。

−日頃、身近に見るもの、手の届くところにあるもの、気心の知れたものと常に対話できるということが私には大事である。そしてこれらを自分により引きつけ、その心を確かめるために、私はデッサンをするのである−（脇田和）

脇田和は、生涯、絵を描くことへの好奇心や学びを、そして、日々のデッサンを欠かすことはありませんでした。1920年代のドイツ・ベルリンに美術を学びに留学していた頃も、戦時中にフィリピン・マニラに赴いていた時も、脇田の描く姿勢は変わらず、身の周りの日常に温かなまなざしを向け、目に映るその日その日の光景を描き続けておりました。戦後もその姿勢は変わることなく、子供たちや、花や、木の実をついばむ鳥たちや、足元に転がる石や、葉むらに潜む小さきものの息づかいにも耳を澄ませ、それらはいつも脇田にとってはデッサンの対象でした。脇田によれば、「特に子供は手ごわい対象物であった」とも語っております。描くという行為は、脇田にとっては、日々出会う新しい“何か”を見つけることであり、それを素直に楽しんだと思われます。
脇田の最晩年においても画筆は傍にあり、入院中の病室内でデッサンをする姿は周りの人たちにも新鮮な感動を与えていたようです。病床で描いた、白いキューブに淡い桃紅色の絵の具で彩色した立体物は画家の遺作となりました。

絵と向き合い対話を続ける脇田の姿勢は、対象物をしっかりと構造から学ぶ厳格なドイツでのデッサンや絵画手法をもって養われたものと言えるかもしれません。その丁寧に観察する眼をもって対象物と対話する画家の芸術的感性は、脇田和が描いた童児画や絵本の挿絵に於いても、描かれる物語の中に、それぞれの味わいのある登場人物たちの表情に、彼らの存在感の中に、しっかりと見て取ることができます。
また、脇田和が1930年代初めに、ベルリンから東京へと帰国するシベリア鉄道の中で、毛糸を持ち込んで制作した「タペストリー」＊１が今も現存しております。ここに描かれる登場人物や動物たちにも感じる画家の優しく温かい視線、その観察眼とデッサン力と色彩のハーモニーで構成される作品には、後に描くことになる童児画の世界を想起させるものがあります。

脇田和は、ベルリンから帰国した昭和初期、1930年後半から1960年代にかけて、絵を描きながらも、多くの児童書、絵本の挿絵、また新聞の挿絵などを描いていきます。『コドモノヒカリ』（1937年6月刊 帝国教育出版部）、『コドモノクニ』＊２（1937年11月刊 東京社「婦人画報社」）、『キンダーブック』等の子供向け雑誌の挿絵や、また代表作である『プークマウークマ』（1942年刊 帝国教育会出版部）をはじめ、『さるのさんちゃん』（1947年刊国民図書刊行会）『ぞうとさるのてがみ』（1948年刊国民図書刊行会）など、雑誌『こどもペン』（1948年刊　新子供社）では、度々、詩人の佐藤義美の童話に寄稿しています。また、現在も読み継がれている小説『君たちはどう生きるか』＊３（1937年、山本有三・吉野源三郎 共著、新潮社刊）の挿絵なども手掛けています。

1960年代に入り、幼児に向けた絵本だけではなく芸術的感性を生かした新しい絵本創りを掲げて『こどものとも』（1956年刊行）を出版した福音館書店の編集者だった松居直は、ロシア民話『おだんごぱん』を再編集するにあたり、脇田和に『おだんごぱん』（1966年福音館刊）の挿絵を依頼します。松居は学生時代から猪熊弦一郎や小磯良平や脇田和らが発起した芸術家団体の新制作派協会＊４の展覧会によく足を運んでおり、脇田の絵が好きだったといいます。

「脇田さんの絵には、何かとても惹かれるものがありました。絵の中に、豊かな詩がある。美的、詩的なものに対する感性が深かったのでしょう。だからこそ、子どもの絵も早くからお描きになっていたのだと思います。」と松居は語っています。
『おだんごぱん』については、「この物語の持つ独特のリズム感を、脇田さんなら絵で語ることができるのではないかと思ったからです。私はこの瀬田さん＊５の文章にも本当に惚れていたんですよ。絵本は文章と絵がどのように組み合わさるかで価値が決まります。文章にないものが絵の中で語られるのですから、絵本においては絵も言葉と同じで読むものです。」「脇田さんは“色彩の詩人”とも呼ばれる洋画家です。また、色彩だけでなく、デッサンも非常に上手い。‥‥子ども、鳥、花、、、それぞれ独特の生活感があって、脇田さんは、それらの存在を、自分の生活の中で本当にていねいに見ていて、絵に取りこまれたのですね。」と。さらに、松居は『おだんごぱん』についてこのように語っています。
「地味な色づかいの絵本は、大人には好まれないことが多いのです。でも子どもの読者がずっとこの本を支えてくれました。脇田さんは絵の中で絵はどのように物語を語るのかを知っていらした、本当にすぐれた画家だと思うのです。」と。＊６
松居が編集した『おだんごぱん』は1966年の初版から半世紀以上たった今日も読み継がれるロングセラー＊７となり、現在ではアジア諸外国でも出版されております。

脇田和の世界―特別展として、ここでは、現在、当館に遺る資料と共に、脇田和が描いた絵本の原画『おだんごぱん』や童児画を一部紹介いたします。「森のぶどうかい」「海の底」は、脇田和が描いた童児画の中に登場するものたちを、90年代に入り新しい印刷技術でプリントした作品です。脇田は、描いたものたちが、まるで、手のひらに乗せられるくらい大きくプリントされることに心を躍らせたといいます。

脇田和が描く、どこか心地よいリズム感と、ぬくもりのある肌触り、そんな温かな優しさを持った、子供たちに向けた世界−そこには、あどけない利発さや鋭い感覚を持ち合わせたそれぞれの登場人物たちが居て、脇田のかれらへの、その愛おしさが、絵本に触れる人々に素直に伝わることでしょう。脇田和の絵本の世界をお楽しみください。

◎絵本『おだんごぱん』の原画は本展にて展示期間中、前期後期と分けて入れ替えて展示いたします。

注記：

  • ＊1「タペストリー」１F展示中。
  • ＊2『コドモノクニ』は1922年に創刊した大正モダニズムや童心主義の風潮を色濃く反映した芸術至上主義的で斬新な幼年向け絵雑誌。1943年まで作品を寄せた。
  • ＊3『君たちはどう生きるか』は1937年の初刊以降も、吉野源三郎著（1948年装本新潮社）、（1956年新潮社）、（1982年岩波文庫）と発行され現在も読み続けられている。2023年に宮崎駿脚本監督により映画公開化された『君たちはどう生きるか』は2024年度ゴールデングローブ賞最優秀長編アニメーション映画賞、アカデミー賞長編アニメーション映画賞を受賞した。
  • ＊4新制作派協会（現：新制作協会）は、1936年に洋画家の猪熊弦一郎、伊勢正義、脇田和、中西利雄、内田巌、小磯良平、佐藤敬、三田康、鈴木誠により芸術活動の自由と純粋さを求めて創設され、1939年に彫刻部が設けられ、戦後には1949年に建築部、1951年には日本画部が合流した。昭和期に設立された日本の美術団体。
  • ＊5『おだんごぱん』訳者。児童文学の評論、創作、翻訳や『児童百科事典』（平凡社）の企画編集者として活躍した瀬田貞二のこと。著書に『落葉ひろい』（上）・（下）（福音館書店）、訳書に『オタバリの少年探偵たち』『かぎのない箱』『ナルニア国物語』『ホビットの冒険』（以上岩波書店刊）、『指輪物語』（評論社刊）、『あふりかのたいこ』『かさじぞう』『ねずみじょうど』他（以上福音館書店刊）、絵本の翻訳に『さんびきやぎのがらがらどん』『アンガスとあひる』『げんきなマドレーヌ』『おおかみと七ひきのこやぎ』（以上福音館書店刊）ほか多数ある。
  • ＊6月刊『MOE』2009年7月号インタビューより。
  • ＊7現在『おだんごぱん』の発行印刷版は114版となり（2024年4月現在）、ロングセラーを更新している。

Kazu Wakita : Drawings and picture books.

−It is important to me to be able to constantly interact with the things I see around me, those within my reach, and those I know well. And in order to draw these things closer to me and to understand their hearts and souls, I draw sketches.−（Kazu Wakita）

Throughout his life, Kazu Wakita never lacked curiosity about drawing, nor did he miss his daily studies. Wakita's approach to painting remained unchanged even when he studied art in Berlin, Germany in the 1920s or when he went to Manila, Philippines during the war, keeping a warm gaze at the everyday life around him and continued to paint the scenes that met his eyes each day. This attitude did not change even after the war, as he continued to listen carefully to the sounds of children, flowers, birds pecking at nuts, stones rolling at his feet, and small creatures hiding in the leaves, all of which were always subjects for Wakita to sketch. According to Wakita, "children were especially tough subjects. For Wakita, the act of drawing was a way of discovering "something" new that he encountered every day, and it appears that he genuinely enjoyed this act.
Even in his final years, Wakita always had a paintbrush at his side, and the sight of him sketching in his hospital room was a fresh inspiration to those around him. The three-dimensional object, painted on a white cube with pale pink paint, which the artist created while in his sickbed, became his last work.

Wakita's attitude of facing paintings and continuing a dialogue with them may have been cultivated through the rigorous drawing and painting techniques he learned in Germany, which involved thorough studies from the structure of the subject. The artist's artistic sensibility, which he uses to communicate with his subjects through his careful, observing eyes, can be clearly seen in the stories he depicts, in the expressions and presence of the unique characters in his children's drawings and picture book illustrations.
Furthermore, a "Tapestry"＊１ that Kazu Wakita created using wool he brought with him on the Trans-Siberian Railway, when he returned to Tokyo from Berlin in the early 1930s, is still preserved. The artist's gentle and warm gaze can be felt towards the people and animals depicted in this work, and the harmony of his observational skills, drawing ability, and color scheme evoke the world of his later drawings of children.

After returning to Japan from Berlin in the early Showa period, from the late 1930s through the 1960s, while Kazu Wakita continued to paint, he also drew illustrations for many children's books, picture books, and newspapers. He illustrated children's magazines such as "Kodomo no Hikari" (published in June 1937 by Teikoku Education Publishing), "Kodomo no Kuni"＊2 (published in November 1937 by Tokyo Company's Fujingahosha), and "Kinder Book," as well as his representative work "Pooh-Kuma and Woo-kuma" (published in 1942 by Teikoku Education Publishing), "San-chan the Monkey" (published in 1947 by Kokumin Tosho Kankokai), and "Elephant and Monkey's Letter" (published in 1948 by Kokumin Tosho Kankokai), and in the magazine "Kodomo Pen" (published by Shinkodomosha in 1948), he often contributed to fairy tales by poet Yoshimi Sato. He also contributed his illustrations to the novel "How Do You Live?" ＊3 (1937, co-authored by Yamamoto Yuzo and Yoshino Genzaburou, published by Shinchosha), which is still read today.

In the 1960s, Tadashi Matsui, an editor at Fukuinkan Shoten which published "Kodomo no Tomo" (1956) with the aim of creating new picture books that utilized artistic sensibilities rather than just picture books aimed at young children, commissioned Kazu Wakida to illustrate "Odango Pan" (published by Fukuinkan in 1966) when he re-edited the Russian folk tale "Odango Pan." Since his student days, Matsui had frequently attended exhibitions held by the Shinseisakuha Association＊4, an artist group established by Inokuma Genichiro, Koiso Ryohei, and Kazu Wakita, and was said to have been a fan of Wakita's paintings.

Matsui says, "There was something about Wakita's paintings that really attracted me. There is a rich poetry in them. He must have had a deep sensibility for what is aesthetic and poetic. I think that's why he began drawing illustrations for children from an early age."
Regarding "Odango Pan," he said, "I thought that Wakita-san would be able to convey the unique rhythm of this story through his illustrations. I was also really in love with Seta-san's＊5writing. Because pictures tell the story things that are not in the text, the pictures in picture books are read in the same way as the words. "Wakita-san is a Western-style painter who is also known as the 'poet of color.' In addition to colors, he is also extremely skilled at drawing. Children, birds, flowers...each has its own unique sense of life, and he carefully observes these existences in his own life to incorporate them into his paintings." Additionally, Matsui said the following about “Odango Pan'':
"Picture books with sober colors are often not liked by adults. But child readers have always supported this book. I think Wakita-san is a truly outstanding painter who knows how illustrations tell a story within illustrations.＊6

“Odango Pan," edited by Matsui, was first published in 1966 and has since become a best-seller＊7that is still read today, more than half a century after it was first published, and is now also published in various Asian countries.
As a special exhibition on the world of Kazu Wakita, we will be showcasing some of Wakita's original illustrations for his picture book "Odango Pan" and drawings for children, along with materials currently kept at the museum. “The Forest Ball" and "The Bottom of the Sea" are works that were printed in the 1990s using new printing techniques to depict the characters that appear in Kazu Wakita’s drawings for children. Wakita says he was excited at the thought of his drawings being printed large enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

Kazu Wakida's world for children with a comfortable rhythm, a warm touch, and a warm kindness−You will find there all the characters of a book are endowed with innocent intelligence and sharp senses, and Wakita's affection for them will surely be conveyed to those who come across such picture books. Enjoy the world of Kazu Wakita's picture books.

◎The original illustrations of the picture book "Odango Pan" will be exhibited in two separate parts during the exhibition period, with the first and second parts being rotated.

注記：

  • ＊1"Tapestry" on display on the 1st floor
  • ＊2“Kodomo no Kuni” was a novel picture magazine for children that was first published in 1922, and strongly reflected the trends of Taisho era modernism and childlike innocence, and art for art’s sake principle. He continued to contribute works until 1943.
  • ＊3"How Do You Live?" was written by Genzaburo Yoshino and published in 1948 (bound by Shinchosha), in 1956 (Shinchosha), and in1982 (Iwanami Bunko), and is still being read today. 『The Boy and the Heron』 ("How Do You Live?"), a film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, was released in 2023 and won the Golden Globe Award for the Best Animated Feature Film, and the Academy Award for the Best Animated Feature Film in 2024.
  • ＊4The Shinseisakuha Association (now the Shinseisaku Association) was established in 1936 by Western-style painters Genichiro Inokuma, Masayoshi Ise, Kazu Wakita, Toshio Nakanishi, Iwao Uchida, Ryohei Koiso, Kei Sato, Yasushi Mita, and Makoto Suzuki in pursuit of freedom and purity in artistic activities. In 1939, the sculpture department was established, and after the war, the architecture department was added in 1949, and the Japanese painting department was also incorporated in 1951. A Japanese art association established during the Showa period.
  • ＊5Translator of "Odango Pan". Teiji Seta was an active critic, author, translator of children's literature, and a planning editor of "Children's Encyclopedia" (Heibonsha). His books include "Fallen Leaves Collection" (vol. 1 and vol. 2) (Fukuinkan Shoten), while his translations include "The Boy Detectives of Otavari", "The Keyless Box", "The Chronicles of Narnia", "The Hobbit" (all published by Iwanami Shoten), "The Lord of the Rings" (published by Hyoronsha), "The African Drum", "The Umbrella", "The Mouse Jodo", and others (all published by Fukuinkan Shoten). His translations of picture books include "The Three Goats Gruff", "Angus and the Duck", "Genki Madeleine", "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats" (all published by Fukuinkan Shoten), and many others.
  • ＊6From an interview in the July 2009 issue of the monthly magazine "MOE"
  • ＊7Currently, the printed edition of "Odangopan" is in its 114th edition (as of April 2024), and it is a record-breaking long-selling item.