An Ainu Tribal Dance - Bronze Japan Dated 1950 #177

Ainu Dancer - bronze 1950 - By Kai ITO 1918-2009 - This is an indigenous Ainu woman from northern Japan. The Ainu are an animist population long discredited by the authorities. From 1932 the Hokkaido government sent several missions to study Ainu culture. The Association for the Promotion of Ainu Folk Crafts was created in 1939 by a group of artists. - Bronze with dark antique green patina. Dated 1950, signed. Marble base. - Kai ITO Professor Emeritus at the Tokyo University of the Arts. Son of a seaweed producer and wholesaler. After a school career disrupted by health concerns, in 1929 he entered the sculpture department of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts). Impressed by Rodin's "The Age of Bronze," which was on the school's campus, the work served as a guideline for his subsequent productions for several years. In September 1944, he graduated with a diploma in sculpture. Called to the Pacific front, he was discharged for health reasons. In 1945, he became an art professor. In 1946, he won the New Artist Award. From 1947, he exhibited annually in various salons (until 2004). In 1952, he became a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Tokyo University of the Arts. In 1955, at the 3rd International Art Exhibition, he saw sculptures by foreign artists such as Marino Marini and Henry Moore, and from then on, his style shifted from a traditional register to a more geometric form. He won a multitude of awards between 1962 and 1986. Works at the Okinawa Museum, etc. Public monuments. A certificate and an illustrated biography will be given to the purchaser.
5.3 kg - height with base 47 cm - figure alone 41.5 cm.