PRESS RELEASE

23 September 2013

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam, the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, in cooperation with the Chihiro Art Museum, shares the delight of hosting an art exhibition “Iwasaki Chihiro and Vietnam”, from 28 September – 27 October 2013 in Hanoi.

Iwasaki Chihiro (1918 – 1974) is one of the most beloved Japanese artists/illustrators in the world, celebrated for her unique feathery expression combining an Eastern Indian-ink painting and a Western watercolor painting.

This exhibition introduces 40 selected artworks (32 artworks are first appearances in Vietnam) in Piezographs, having three main themes: children, flowers and picture books.

Chihiro is believed that she could distinguish a 10-month baby and a 1-year-old baby skillfully in her paintings, and could draw any postures of a child without a model. Naturally, children in Chihiro’s paintings are highly animated and deeply expressive, with a plenty of inner emotions.

Along with children, flowers were also Chihiro’s major favorites to draw. She grew many kinds of flowers by herself in her garden and the flowers were seasonally flourishing all the years, being a resource of her imagination.

Throughout her career, Chihiro wrote about 40 picture books including Japanese and Andersen’s fairy tales, daily lives of children and babies, and especially the award-winning book “Children in the Flames of War”, one of Chihiro’s most important works in which she not only drew the illustrations but also wrote the texts, in spite of her sickness, painfully inspired from the Vietnam War.

As one of human beings who experienced a war, Chihiro was in all her life anxious about children’s happiness and peace, leaving behind the words in 1970s, “May Vietnamese children, Japanese children and children all over the world live in peace and happiness”.

Over 40 years have passed since Chihiro left behind the words. Are we living in peace and happiness now? The organizers hope that this exhibition will provide you a good opportunity to look back over our lives, through the world of Iwasaki Chihiro who loves “plentiful, peaceful, beautiful and cute” things in all her life.

For inquiries on the exhibition and interview with the curators, please contact at:

Ms. Ha (091-541-6055) / Mr. Yoshioka (0123-384-4138)

The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam

27 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam TEL 04-3944-7419 www.jpf.org.vn

Exhibition “Iwasaki Chihiro and Vietnam”

Organized by: The Chihiro Art Museum

The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam

Duration: Saturday 28 September – Sunday 27 October 2013

Venue: The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam

27 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

[Opening hours 09:00 – 18:00, no closed days]

TEL 04 3944 7419

Opening: 10:00 – Saturday 28 September 2013

Includes:

A talk on

“Chihiro, a painter connection Japan and Vietnam:

True love to peaceful, plentiful, beautiful and cute things”

By Ms. Yuko Takesako

Deputy Director, Chihiro Art Museum Azumino

Iwasaki Chihiro (1918 – 1974)

Born in Takefu, Fukui Prefecture, and moved to Tokyo later. She began to study sketching and oil painting at the age of 14 under Okada Saburosuke, and Japanese calligraphy when she was 18, under Oda Shuyo of the Fujiwara Kozei School. Her fist work for children was a set of illustrated “paper-theatre” storytelling panels called “Okasan no Hanashi” [lit. The Story of a Mother] in 1950, and in 1956, she created her first picture book, “Hitori de Dekiru yo” [lit. I Can Do it All by Myself]. She won many prizes, among them; Graphic Prize Fiera di Bologna for “Kotori no Kuru Hi” [lit. The Pretty Bird] in 1971, and Bronze Medal of the Lepzig International Book Fair for “Senka no Naka no Kodomo-tachi” [lit. Children in the Flames of War] in 1974. In 1973 Chihiro was diagnosed with liver cancer, and died the following year at the age of 55.

■ Selected Artworks

Remarks:

1. For the usage of the following images for your media, please contact the staffs in charge above.

2. Please put the captions below in each image when you put the images on your media.

Iwasaki Chihiro “Tulips and Child” (Around 1970)

Iwasaki Chihiro “Sunflower and Baby” (1971)

Iwasaki Chihiro “Girl Holding Gerberas” (Around 1970)

Iwasaki Chihiro “Children Playing Instruments” (1957)

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