Art and Culture : The wonders of Fireworks!

Kiyoshi Yamashita

Fireworks in Tondabayashi

Artist: Kiyoshi Yamashita

Medium: Oil paint

Subject: Fireworks

Created: 1934

Periods:  Modern Contemporary

Kiyoshi Yamashita was a person who knew what he wanted and did what he enjoyed, creating many beautiful works.

Yamashita entered an institution for people with mental disabilities in Chiba. The institution encouraged its pupils to create chigiri-e — a Japanese art form that uses torn pieces of colored paper to create images. This art is particularly good for people with learning disabilities who have difficulty with precise finger work: even if you make a mistake, you can easily amend it by sticking another piece of paper. 

One of the characteristics of his style is that he tries to carefully depict the whole scene, including small details to show the atmosphere of the moment.

Yamashita quickly transferred his chigiri-e skills to canvas, albeit quite literally: he painted in small dots of color, imitating the process of gluing torn pieces of paper.Kusama spent her childhood surrounded by her family’s seed harvesting grounds.