was a Japanese artist who worked in a variety of media, including photography and engraving. He came to the forefront of the Japanese avant-garde with his 1936 collection of photo-dessins, a fusion of photograms and paintings. He also founded several art organizations, including the Democratic Artists Association.
Life and career Ei-Q, whose early work was done under his real name of Hideo Sugita (, Sugita Hideo), was born in Miyazaki-machi (now Miyazaki City), Miyazaki Prefecture on April 28, 1911.Nihon shashinka jiten () / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers (Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000; ), p.61. Despite its English-language alternative title, the book is in Japanese only. Biographical material is from this source where not otherwise noted. In 1925 Sugita entered an art school in Tokyo to study western-style painting, and his criticism of western art started appearing in the art magazines Atelier and Mizue in 1927,Rei Masuda, "Japanese Photography of the 1920s and 1930s: Photographic Works of Koshiro Onchi, Osamu Shiihara and Ei-kyu", Modanizumu no kōseki: Onchi Kōshirō, Ei-Q / Traces of Light in Modernism: Koshiro Onchi, Osamu Shiihara and Ei-Kyu (Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1997), pp. 10–11. in which year he also left the school. In 1930 he entered a photography school and from then on pursued both painting and photography and more particularly photograms, first experimenting briefly with these in 1930, then dropping them in pursuit of painting, and then returning to them in 1936.
Ei-Q was influenced by the Surrealist aesthetic and also published essays promoting photography as an art form independent of painting. This did not imply a rejection of painting, and he worked toward what in 1935 he termed photo-dessins, a fusion of photograms and paintings. A first collection of these, published in an edition of 40 in 1936 as Nemuri no riyū (, "the reason for sleep"), took him to the forefront of the Japanese avant garde.Luisa Orto, "Ei-Q (Sugita Hideo)", in Anne Wilkes Tucker, et al., The History of Japanese Photography (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003; ), p.336. Akiko Okatsuka rates Ei-Q (as he had named himself in 1935), together with Sutezō Otono, as standing out among the many Japanese exponents of photograms, unlike the majority in their ability to use them for expressive rather than merely playful ends.Akiko Okatsuka, "Consciousness and the Expression of the Modern", in Nihon kindai shashin no seiritsu to tenkai () / The Founding and Development of Modern Photography in Japan (Tokyo: Tokyo Museum of Photography, 1995), p.23. Ei-Q also contributed photograms and photography criticism to Photo Times. Later museum narratives, including the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum exhibition Avant-Garde Rising: The Photographic Vanguard in Modern Japan, have situated this aspect of his interwar work within the wider milieu of avant-garde photography in Tokyo. (He also became an enthusiastic proponent of Esperanto at about the same time.)
Ei-Q set up the art organization Jiyū Bijutsu Kyōkai () in 1937; this lasted until 1951.Shashinka wa nani o hyōgen shita ka: 1945–1960 (, What were photographers expressing? 1945–1960; Tokyo: Konica Plaza, 1991), p.57.
Ei-Q was able to resume his work after the war and in 1951 set up the group Democratic Artists Association (, Demokurāto Bijutsuka Kyōkai) in Osaka. Membership was by invitation only, but the idea was to promote the free expression of members, who included woodblock artists, designers, photographers and others. On Ei-Q's move from Osaka to Urawa later in the same year, the group set up a branch in nearby Tokyo as well; Eikoh Hosoe and Takeji Iwamiya then joined. The Association lasted until 1957, holding exhibitions of its works.Takako Matsuda, "Democratic Artists Association", in Tucker, et al., The History of Japanese Photography, p.371.
Also in 1951 Ei-Q started etching and lithography; he would continue exploring new art media until his death. He was also active in art education, in 1952 setting up Sōzō Biiku Kyōkai ().
Ei-Q died on March 10, 1960.
Exhibitions "Ei-Q photo-dessins" (). 1936.Shashinka wa nani o hyōgen shita ka: 1945–1960, p.57. This source does not specify the name of the gallery. "Ei-Q photo-dessins" (). 1951. "Dai ikkai Tōkyō kokusai hanga biennāre-ten" (, i.e. the first Tokyo international biennale of wood engravings). 1957. "Ei-Q kaiko-ten" (). 1970. "Modanizumu no kōseki: Onchi Kōshirō, Ei-Q" () / "Traces of Light in Modernism: Koshiro Onchi, Osamu Shiihara and Ei-Kyu". National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, February–March 1997. The work of Kōshirō Onchi, Osamu Shiihara, and Ei-Q.Press release for the exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. . Retrieved March 6, 2009. "Demokurāto 1951–1957: Kaihō sareta sengo bijutsu" (). Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, August–October 1999.Website of the exhibition , Museum of Modern Art, Saitama. . Retrieved March 6, 2009. "Ei-Q no himitsu-ten: Āto ni deau natsu" () vol. 2. Fukuoka Art Museum (Fukuoka), July–August 2000."Atarashii Fukuoka kenritsu bijutsukan no arikata ni tsuite " (, PDF file) p.49. pref.fukuoka.lg.jp. Retrieved March 6, 2009. "Ei-Q, Ay-O, Ikeda Masuo" () Sayama Shiritsu Hakubutsukan (Sayama), October–December 2000. An exhibition of Ei-Q, Ay-O and Masuo Ikeda.Web page of the exhibition , Sayama Shiritsu Hakubutsukan. . Retrieved March 6, 2009. "Urawa gaka to sono jidai: Terauchi Manjirō, Ei-Q, Takada Makoto o chūshin ni" (). Urawa Art Museum (Urawa), 2000. Catalogue of the opening exhibition of the museum, on the painters of Urawa, and particularly Manjirō Terauchi, Ei-Q, and Makoto Takada.List of exhibitions at Urawa Art Museum , Urawa Art Museum. Accessed March 6, 2009. "Ei-Q foto-dessan-ten" () / "Ei-Q Photo Dessin". National Museum of Art, Osaka (Suita), October–December 2005.Website of the exhibition , National Museum of Art, Osaka. . Retrieved March 6, 2009. "Ei-Q-ten" (). Kawagoe Gallery, February 2006.page about the exhibition, Kawagoe Gallery (Kawagoe). Accessed March 6, 2009. "Ei-Q to sono shūhen" (). Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts (Machida), June–September 2008.Exhibition schedule for 2008, Friends (Tomo-no-Kai) of the Museum. Accessed March 6, 2009. "Ei-Q-ten" (). Kawagoe Gallery, September 2008.List of exhibitions, Kawagoe Gallery (Kawagoe). Accessed March 6, 2009.
Works in permanent collections Works by Ei-Q are in the permanent collections of the following institutions: Ashiya City Museum of Art and History (Ashiya)Norihiko Matsumoto (), ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon (, Japan's art galleries and photography collections; Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2002; ) . P. 135. Fukuoka Art Museum (Fukuoka City); 45 photo-dessins.Matsumoto, ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon, p. 169. Homma Museum of Art (Sakata).Ei-Q's work appears in this page about part of the museum's permanent collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Mie Prefectural Art Museum (Tsu).Mie Prefectural Art Museum at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Miyagi Museum of Art (Sendai)Matsumoto, ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon, p. 18. Miyakonojo City Museum of Art (Miyakonojo).Miyakonojo City Museum of Art at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum (Miyazaki City)Ei-Q's work was prominent in the museum's display of its permanent collection during the year 2008–2009: description, Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum . Retrieved March 6, 2009. Nagashima Museum (Kagoshima City).Nagashima Museum at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Niigata City Art Museum (Niigata City).Niigata City Art Museum at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Okawa Museum of Art (Kiryū).Chart (PDF file) showing all artists in the collection. Okawa Museum of Art. Accessed March 7, 2009. (Ei-Q appears slightly to the right of and above the centre.) Museum of Modern Art, Saitama (Saitama City); 98 photo-dessins and five photo collages.Matsumoto, ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon, pp. 32–33. Takamatsu City Museum of Art (Takamatsu).Takamatsu City Museum of Art at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Tokushima Modern Art Museum (Tokushima City)Page on Ei-Q , Tokushima Art Museum. Accessed March 6, 2009. Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of PhotographyAs denoted by Ei-Q's inclusion within Nihon shashinka jiten, without a disclaimer. Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.MOCAT at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Toneyama Kōjin Kinen Bijutsukan (, Kitakami).Toneyama Kōjin Kinen Bijutsukan at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Urawa Art Museum (Urawa)Page about the museum's permanent collection , Urawa Art Museum. Accessed March 6, 2009. Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama (Wakayama City)Matsumoto, ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon, p. 105. Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama).Yokohama Museum of Art at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009. Yokosuka Museum of Art (Yokosuka).Yokosuka Museum of Art at Art Collection. Accessed March 6, 2009.
Books by and of Ei-Q Ei-Q. Nemuri no riyū: Ei-Q-shi fotodessan sakuhinshū (. Geijutsugaku Kenkyūkai, 1936. Ei-Q and Kiyomi Shimazaki (). Dōbanga no tsukurikata (. Tokyo: Mon Shoten, 1956. An introductory practical book about etching. Mitsuharu Yamada (). Ei-Q: Hyōden to sakuhin (). Tokyo: Seiryūdō, 1976. Ei-Q-shi fotodessan-ten (. Fukuoka: Fukuoka Art Museum, 1978. Ei-Q-ten: Gendai bijutsu no chichi (). N.p.: Ei-Q-ten Kaisai Iinkai, 1979. Sadajirō Kubo (). Ei-Q to nakama-tachi (). Kubo Sadajirō Bijutsu no Sekai () 2. Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1985. . Ei-Q to sono shūhen (). Tokyo: Yomiuri Shinbunsha, 1986. Catalogue of an exhibition, held at the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama and elsewhere, of the work of Ei-Q and his circle. Ei-Q foto-dessan-ten (). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1987. Catalogue of an exhibition of Ei-Q's photo-dessins. Ei-Q to sono nakama-tachi-ten (). Machida, Tokyo: Machida City Museum of Graphic Art, 1988. Catalogue of an exhibition held at Machida City Museum of Graphic Art in 1988. Ei-Q-ten: Yusai, foto-dessan, hanga (). Itami: Itami City Museum of Art, 1990. Catalogue of an exhibition of Ei-Q's oil paintings, photo-dessins and wood block prints held at the Itami City Museum of Art. Ei-Q sakuhinshū (). Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbun-sha, 1997. . A collection of the work of Ei-Q. Hikari no kaseki: Ei-Q to fotoguramu no sekai (). Urawa: Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, 1997. Catalogue of an exhibition of Ei-Q's photograms. Modanizumu no kōseki: Onchi Kōshirō, Ei-Q ) / Traces of Light in Modernism: Koshiro Onchi, Osamu Shiihara and Ei-Kyu. Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1997. Catalogue of an exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo of the work of Kōshirō Onchi, Osamu Shiihara, and Ei-Q. Ei-Q no himitsu-ten: Āto ni deau natsu () vol. 2. Fukuoka: Fukuoka Art Museum, 2000. Urawa gaka to sono jidai: Terauchi Manjirō, Ei-Q, Takada Makoto o chūshin ni (). Urawa, Saitama: Urawa Art Museum, 2000. Catalogue of the opening exhibition of Urawa Art Museum, on the painters of Urawa, and particularly Manjirō Terauchi, Ei-Q, and Makoto Takada. Ei-Q kara no tegami (). Ei-Q Bijutsukan, 2000. Masaomi Sugita (). Chichi (). Miyazaki 21-seki Bunko () 27. Miyazaki: Kōmyakusha, 2000. . A book about Ei-Q by his son. Hirofumi Wada. Ei-Q, Shimozato Yoshio: renzu no avangyarudo (). Vol. 14 of Korekushon Nihon shūrurearisumu (). Tokyo: Hon no Tomo-sha, 2001. . On Ei-Q, Yoshio Shimozato, and surrealism in Japanese photography. Ei-Q foto-dessan-ten (). Suita, Osaka: National Museum of Art, Osaka, 2005. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the National Museum of Art, Osaka of Ei-Q's photo-dessins.
Notes
External links Chronology, Okawa Museum of Art.