Sadao Watanabe (1913-1996)
Sadao Watanabe was born in 1913. He is one of Japan’s most successful artists from the latter 20th century. Sadao Watanabe became ill with tuberculosis and found hope through reading the Bible. By 1930, Sadao Watanabe was baptized and decided to make a commitment to tell the Christian story through his artwork. After he had recovered from severe tuberculosis, he still continued to spread the story of the Bible in his work. He did so by specializing in the art of "Katazome", the technique of traditional stencil drying used for the Kimono. Mr. Watanabe studied under Soetsu Yanagi (1891 – 1961) who was then a leading member of the Japanese folk art movement. He also learned the traditional technique of Japanese stencil printing, called Kappazuri from Serizawa Keisuke. In 1947, he won the top prize from the Japan Folk Art Museum and then the Kokugokai Prize in 1948. Mr. Watanabe also held a one-man show at the Portland Art Museum in 1962 and displayed his work at The Modern Print Show at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. In 1976, he was invited to the United States by the Lutheran Church, and by 1977 had a one-man show held at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. In 1981, he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Linfield College, Oregon. His works are in the collection of: Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts in San Francisco, Art Institute of Chicago, Boston Art Museum, British Museum, Carnegie Museum, Cincinnati Museum of Art, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the National Museum of Art in Tokyo, as well as numerous important private collections.
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