Lacquer Painting 'Lush Growth'

Carved lacquer (choshitsu) panel depicting stylized lush foliage in blue and gold tones against a black ground, in a painterly, abstracted style characteristic of the artist’s panel and screen work. A paper label to the reverse reads “Shigeru” (lush growth) accompanied by a red seal.

Onishi Tadao, born in 1918 in Zentsuji, Kagawa Prefecture. Trained at the Kagawa Prefectural Crafts School and studied under Tsuishu Yosei. Awarded Nitten tokusen in 1955, and was a member of Nitten and a councilor of the Contemporary Crafts Artists Association (Gendai Kōgei Bijutsuka Kyōkai). Held his first solo exhibition in 1958 at Mitsukoshi Takamatsu, followed by numerous further exhibitions. Served as a judge for Nitten, the Nihon Shin-kōgei ten, and the Nihon Kōshōkai. Received the Prime Minister’s Award and the Minister of Education Award among his honors, and was named an honorary citizen of Zentsuji in 1999. Alongside Akashi Bokkei, he is credited with pioneering painterly panel and screen formats in Kagawa lacquer art for interior decorative use.

Works by the artist are held in the collections of the Kagawa Prefectural Lacquer Art Research Institute and the Zentsuji City Museum of Art, which honors him with a dedicated Onishi Tadao Memorial Hall.