SHINODA TOKO

Lithograph with hand-painted brush strokes. 1913 – 2021, born Manchuria, China.  Resided in Tokyo. Trained from age of six as a calligrapher.

Permanent Collections: Museum of Modern Art, New York;Guggenheim Museum, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Albright Knox, New York; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Cincinnati Art Museum; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; Fogg Art Museum, Cambrige (US); British Museum, London; Singapore National Museum; Museum fuer Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa; Rijksmuseum Kroeller-Mueller, Otterloo; Stadtisches Museum, Den Haag; Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu; Museum of Modern Art, Toyama; Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art ; Rockefeller Foundation Collection, New York; Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, New York; First National City Bank Collection, New York;Ford Foundation Collection, New York.

Shinoda is widely recognised as one of Japan’s greatest painters of the twentieth century. She first came to prominence in the 1960’s and 1970’s when she was discovered by the influential art dealer Betty Parsons, alongside works of artists such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. Trained as a calligrapher, her preference is for the grey and black sumi (Japanese ink) strokes of colours against a field of white space. She ground her own ink in her house. There is great respect for spatial relationships in her sophisticated, deeply Japanese work.

Shinoda moved into lithography in the 1960’s which meant that her work became more available overseas despite her return to Japan. Lithography lent itself to Shinoda’s style, as she used her brushes directly on the plate or stone and could therefore be as spontaneous as in her paintings. She has written several short books which became bestsellers in Japan about her life’s learnings over the last century. She was also an accomplished poet and her works resonate her poetic sense. She died peacefully in 2021 in Tokyo at the age of 107 having inspired so many people.

SHINODA TOKO:  Aspiration
Title: Aspiration - SOLD OUT
Date: 1999
Medium: Lithograph with hand colouring
Edition: 38
Image size: 70 x 50cm
SHINODA TOKO:  Phase
Title: Phase - SOLD OUT
Date: 1999
Medium: Lithograph with hand colouring
Edition: 7/35
Image size: 50 x 70cm
SHINODA TOKO: Arrived Wind
Title: Arrived Wind - SOLD OUT
Date: 2001
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 28
Image size:  53 x 71cm 
SHINODA TOKO:  Window (
Title: Window ("Mado") - SOLD OUT
Date: 1999
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 8
Image size: 65 x 48cm
SHINODA TOKO: Duet
Title: Duet - SOLD OUT
Date: 2001
Medium: Lithograph with hand- colouring
Edition: 35
Image size: 66 x 49cm
SHINODA TOKO: Depth White
Title: Depth White
Date: 1997
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 35
Image size: 63 x 46cm
SHINODA TOKO: Plenty
Title: Plenty - SOLD OUT
Date: 1994
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 30
Image size: 53 x 72cm
SHINODA TOKO: Epigraph
Title: Epigraph - SOLD OUT
Date: 2003
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 50
Image size: 63 x 45.5
SHINODA TOKO: Atude
Title: Atude - SOLD OUT
Date: 2006
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 35
Image size: 28 x 38cm
SHINODA TOKO: Torch
Title: Torch - SOLD OUT
Date: c.2000
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 30
Image size: 29 x 39cm
SHINODA TOKO: Response
Title: Response - SOLD OUT
Date: 2006
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 25
Image size: 53 x 72cm
SHINODA TOKO: A Glade
Title: A Glade
Date: 1999
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 38
Image size: 64 x 46 cm
SHINODA TOKO: Etude
Title: Etude - SOLD OUT
Date: 1997
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 30
Image size: 40.5 x 72 cm
SHINODA TOKO: Sonority
Title: Sonority - SOLD OUT
Date: 2002
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 30
Image size: 70 x 85 cm framed
SHINODA TOKO: Setting Forth
Title: Setting Forth
Date: 2007
Medium: Lithograph with hand-colouring
Edition: 35
Image size: 72x53, 87x67 mounted