Toko Shinoda 篠田 桃紅 (b. 1913, Japan)
Selected works
Biography
Toko Shinoda was born into a wealthy family in Dalian, Manchuria, where her father managed a tobacco factory. Two years later, her family returned to Japan. Influenced by her father’s love of sumi ink painting, calligraphy and Chinese poetry, Shinoda practiced calligraphy from the age of six. In 1940, Shinoda had her first solo exhibition at Kyukyodo Gallery. She began working on abstract paintings in sumi by 1945.
Toko Shinoda is widely recognised as one of Japan’s greatest painters of the twentieth century. She first came to prominence in the 1960’s and 1970’s when she was discovered by the influential art dealer Betty Parsons, alongside works of artists such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. Trained as a calligrapher, her preference is still for the grey and black sumi (Japanese ink) strokes of colours against a field of white space. She grinds her own ink in her house. There is great respect for spatial relationships in her sophisticated, deeply Japanese work. Shinoda moved into lithography in the 1960’s which meant that her work became more available overseas despite her return to Japan. Lithography lends itself to Shinoda’s style, as she can use her brushes directly on the plate or stone and can therefore be as spontaneous as in her paintings. Shinoda turned 103 years old this year, and still lives and works in Tokyo. She is represented in the permanent collections of many museums internationally, including The British Museum, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Modern Museum of Art, NY; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Singapore National Museum; Museum fuer Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin ; and Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa.
CV
1913 Born in Manchuria
1914 Moved to Tokyo, Japan
1935 Began teaching calligraphy
1947 Began producing abstract work
1960 Began producing lithographs
1979 Received the Japanese Essayist Club Prize for her collection of writings, Sumi-iro
Exhibitions
2012 Guided by the Brushes [paintings and lithographs] New York
1976–2011 Tolman Collection, Tokyo (solo)
2009 Sensai, Residenzgalerie Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
2008 Die Hände der Kunst, MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany
2005 Sommerausstellung, Galerie Cornelius Pleser, Munich, Germany
2004 Vier japanische Avantgardisten: Japan Art, Galerie Friedrich Müller, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
2004 Modern Japanese Prints from the Permanent Collection, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
2004 Toko Shinoda, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI (solo)
2003 Variations of Vermillion, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
2002 Kohodo Gallery, Gifu, Japan (solo)
2001 Shinoda Toko Recent Works, Galerie Humanite, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
2001 A 25-year retrospective of lithographs made for The Tolman Collection at Sogetsu Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1999 Japanese Prints by Ten Artists, produced by The Tolman Collection for the Canberra National Multicultural Festival at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, Australia
1998 Shinoda Toko, Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan (solo)
1997 Shinoda Toko, Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan (solo)
1996 Castle Fine Arts, Del Mar, CA (solo)
1996 The visual Poetry of Toko Shinoda, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (solo)
1995 Castle Fine Arts, Del Mar, CA (solo)
1995 Tracks of Japanese Postwar Art, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Hyogo, Fukuoka
1994 Castle Fine Arts, Del Mar, CA (solo)
1994 Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (solo)
1993 Toko Shinoda: A New Appreciation, Retrospective Show, Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
1992 Toko Shinoda Retrospective, Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan (solo)
1990 Major retrospective of prints, paintings and drawings, The Tolman Collection, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1989 Seibu Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1986 Galerie Tokoro, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1984 Ancient Visions through Modern Eyes, paintings and prints by Toko Shinoda, sculpture by Elizabeth de Cuevas, The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
1982 Galerie Tokoro, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1980 Creation-Tradition-New Prints and Paintings by Toko Shinoda, Zojoji temple, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1979–1980 Three Pioneers of Abstract Painting in the 20th Century Japan, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., traveling exhibition
1978 Takashimaya Department Store, Gifu, Japan (solo)
1976 The Tolman Collection, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1973 Development of Postwar Japanese Art,Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
1972 Takashimaya Department Store, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1971 ROSC-71, Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland (one of ten artists including Dubuffet, Hartung, de Kooning, Millares, Miro, Picasso, Shinoda, Soulages, Tapies, Zao Wou-ki)
1968 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1967 ROSC-67, 50 artists, Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland
1966 Fran-Nell Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1965 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1961 6th São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil
1961 Akademie der Kunst, Berlin, Germany
1959 Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium (solo)
1959 Rijksmuseum Kroeller-Mueller, Otterloo, The Netherlands
1958 Modern Abstract Japanese Calligraphy, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX
1957 Japanese Abstract Calligraphy by Toko Shinoda, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (solo)
1957 La Hune Galerie, Paris, France (solo)
1956 Yoseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1956 Swetzoff Gallery, Boston. MA (solo)
1955 Nichi-Bei chusho bijutsuten (exhibition of Japanese and American abstract art), National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
1954 Japanese Calligraphy, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1954 Matsuzakaya Department Store, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1940 Kyukyodo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Public Collections
Singapore Art Museum
Smithsonian Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C.
Smith College Museum of Art, USA
Stadtisches Museum den Haag, The Netherlands
The Art Institute of Chicago, U.S.A.
The Ford Foundation Collection, New York, U.S.A.
Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel
Toko Shinoda Art Space, Seki City, Gifu
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Brooklyn, Museum, New York
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, U.S.A.
Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Luxembourg Royal Collection
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Museum fuer Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin, Germany
Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel
Rijksmuseum Kroeller-Mueller, Otterloo, The Netherlands
Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan
Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan
Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Rockefeller Foundation Collection, New York, NY
Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Albright Knox, New York, NY
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven , CT
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
British Museum, London, UK
Singapore National Museum, Singapore