An Examination of Sculptor Shin Hongo's Style Development of Works and Relationship between Wood Carving

-Development from "Soaring" to "Drifting"

Abstract

This paper aims to reconsider the systematic significance of the approach towards wood carvings, which received limited attention in the artistic activities of the sculptor "Shin Hongo" who created many monuments through molding. The wood carvings of Hongo were discussed with a focus placed on the representative work 《Koku》. However, in this paper, an attempt is made to uncover an aspect of Hongo's awareness of wood carvings by examining the relationship in the production process of molding works that is similar to wood carvings.

In this examination, the focus is placed on the works of the human body in supine poses and small nude female figure 《Rafu》, a wood carving work 《Fuhyo》, Hongo's typical "Mukonotami" series 《Mecongawa I》, and the subsequent 《Mecongawa II》are assessed. These artworks are categorized differently in terms of their materials such as collections of artworks.

While examining the relationship between “Hishosururafu1”, an unreleased work not included in the collection, and other works, I found that all works probably are created through “Hishosururafu1” indeed. As a result of the examination, the four similar works assessed this time are considered to share the same "expansion into the air" as sought in “Hishosururafu1”．

In a series of efforts related to "expansion into the air" of the human figure in a supine pose, a new development called drifting expression is derived from changing the modeling methods from molding to wood carving.