2019 Volume 51 Issue 1 Pages 273-280
This article attempts to examine the practice of art education at a school located in a rural area; it is based on the analysis of 4,100 pieces of students’ artwork created during the school years 1966–1985, preserved at Bakuro Elementary School, Takaoka-city. The study first outlines the circumstances and events that occurred in art education in the middle and late Showa era. The school diaries and relevant documents were also reviewed in order to investigate the teaching staff, art books used in art classes, implementation of art practices, and related art activities at the school. The study then analyzes the themes of the students’ artwork, ways of expression, as well as thought and practice in art education. As a result, the study confirms that the students’ artwork contained works of scenery, figures, still life, and the trend of making wood prints. These pictorial works included future cities and stories, which resulted in new ideas, thereby confirming diversification of art themes. The study also found that students’ memorial works played a significant role by functioning as study/teaching material for practice in class and in-service learning at that time.
