April 19: Shunsuke Matsumoto (1912-1948)

[Image description: "Back Side of Tokyo Station," by Shunsuke Matsumoto, a painting of a railyard in blacks and greys, with much of the station in silhouette against a grey sky]

Japanese artist Shunsuke Matsumoto was born Sunshuke Sato on this date in 1912, in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. He grew up in northern Japan, at Hanamaki in the Iwate prefecture. When he was 13, he became deaf after surviving meningitis. He moved back to Tokyo when he was 17, intent on becoming a painter. His works in oil and his drawings depict detailed, dreamlike images of the city--bridges and cathedrals, crowds and windows--and later, a series of figure studies, portraits and self-portraits, among other subjects. He exhibited often in Tokyo, opened a studio, married Teiko Matsumoto, and took her surname. With his wife, he produced a magazine, Zakkicho (Notebook) that ran 14 issues, devoted to art and essays. In another journal of commentary, Mizue, he published a famous 1941 essay, "The Living Artist," defending modern art from charges of degeneracy, when most other young artists were serving in the military. In this passage from that essay, he refers to his deafness as he compares visual arts to music:

I often have to defend the meaning of abstract works. When it happens, I have no way to explain them other than to use the example of music, even though I am not really qualified because I have lost my hearing. It is possible that the nuances of color, line, or shape describe the movement of human feelings, as melody can stimulate all kinds of emotions.

After WWII, he started an artists' organization to revitalize Japanese communities. He died at 36, from heart failure (he had chronic health problems from asthma and tuberculosis). In 1998, the art museum in Iwate marked the 50th anniversary of his passing with an exhibit of 92 paintings and 45 drawings. "All of these pictures filled with his joy in the painterly process evoke a sense of Shunsuke's faith in the painting and his deep love for the human condition," declared the exhibit catalog.

See also:

Mark H. Sandler, "The Living Artist: Matsumoto Shunsuke's Reply to the State," Art Journal (September 1996). Online here.

Congratulations to Tsuchida and Soejima!

The 111th Boston Marathon (the world's oldest annual marathon--they like to point that out) almost didn't run on Monday--Boston was in the path of a big nor'easter that dumped a lot of snow and rain on the whole region. But organizers decided at 4am race day that it should go forward, and it did.

The Wheelchair division winners were both Japanese: Masazumi Soejima for the men (pictured at left) and Wakako Tsuchida for the women. Both are past Paralympic medalists, and Tsuchida has competed not only in track-and-field events, but also in ice sledge speed racing at the Winter Paralympics. Oh, and she had a baby seven months ago....

But wait, there's more. The Boston Marathon has several divisions for disabled athletes. In the visually-impaired division, Americans Adrian Broca and Ivonne Mosquera had the top times. In the mobility-impaired division (in which competitors usually ambulate with prostheses, crutches, or braces), Paul Martin and Amy Palmiero-Winters (pictured at right, not at the Monday race) placed first and second.

Congratulations to all the athletes who participated!

"Listening through the Body" in Los Angeles, 9 June

This doesn't exactly sound like my kind of music, but I figure an innovatively-accessible live performance might be worth a plug anyway. Matsui has also done concerts supporting bone marrow donation and breast cancer awareness programs, especially those working among women of color. Edited down from a local press release, with links and image added:

Celebrated Pianist Keiko Matsui Performs with Asia America Symphony Orchestra
Saturday, June 9, 2007 - 8 p.m., Los Angeles, CA

Concert Marks U.S. Debut of Listening Technology for Deaf, Hard of Hearing

Renowned jazz pianist and composer Keiko Matsui (pictured at right), recognized as a Japanese national treasure, will perform with the Asia America Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, June 9 at 8 p.m. under the baton of Music Director and Conductor David Benoit. The concert will take place at the George and Sakaye Aratani Japan America Theatre at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro St. in the Little Tokyo area near downtown Los Angeles.

With generous funding from Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., the concert will feature the U.S. debut of Pioneer’s listening technology for the deaf and listening impaired. Pioneer has invited students from local universities and college campuses that are well-known for their deaf studies programs, as well as members of local advocacy groups, such as the OC Deaf Equal Access Foundation (OC DEAF) and the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD), to attend the concert free of charge to experience the music of Matsui and the Asia America Symphony Orchestra using this innovative technology.

Known as “Listening Through the Body” in Japan, Pioneer’s technology has been tested successfully and is used at leading Tokyo concert halls. It features a vibrating seat and speakers at ear level that allow users to feel the rhythms and vibrations of the musical performance. The system can be used with or without a hearing aid.

Japanese concertgoers who have used the Pioneer technology—including those who lost their hearing in adulthood—say it allows them to enjoy music. Employees at Pioneer’s headquarters in Tokyo, where concerts for the deaf and hard of hearing are held monthly, report that users of the listening system are often overcome with emotion when experiencing musical performances for the first time. For this reason, Pioneer’s dedicated and passionate sound engineers have developed and refined the listening system as a labor of love.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to the arts, and to innovations in audio technology, we are honored to partner with the Asia America Symphony Orchestra to sponsor this concert featuring Keiko Matsui,” said Tom Haga, President of Pioneer North America, Inc. and Board Member of the Asia America Symphony Association. “As we celebrate the performance of one of Japan’s best-known musical artists, we are honored that our listening technology will allow local students who are deaf and hearing impaired to enjoy her performance.”

Born in Tokyo and known for her smooth jazz compositions and piano artistry, Keiko Matsui has released more than twenty CDs with her newest, entitled Moyo (Heart and Soul), released in April 2007 by Shout Factory.

The June 9 concert will also feature works by Ravel, Copland and others. Tickets ($25-$75) are available at the symphony's website or by calling 310-377-8977. Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. is headquartered in Long Beach, CA.

New books on Dixmont asylum, Deaf in Japan

There are two new books on disability history out just this month to note.

Karen Nakamura's Deaf in Japan: Signing and the Politics of Identity (Cornell University Press 2006), starts from the first Japanese schools for the deaf in the 1870s, and relies on both archival and ethnographic research to reveal recent shifts in attitudes, both toward and within the deaf community. Karen Nakamura is an anthropology professor at Yale.

Mark Berton's Dixmont State Hospital (Images of America, Arcadia Publishing, 2006) is a photographic record of the title institution, an asylum on the Ohio River outside Pittsburgh; built in 1859 (and named for Dorothea Dix), it closed in 1984 and the building was razed earlier this year. Berton is a Pittsburgh-based newspaper photographer who "spends his free time photographing asylum architecture."

[Dixmont was apparently a popular site for photographers; Rowdydow has a webpage featuring images from inside its ruins, and Dixmont.info has video and many more stills. The pictures of Dixmont at the Hours of Darkness gallery give you some flavor of the place's style and state before its demolition.]