1900-1979. Ikebana artist. Teshigahara Sōfū was born as the first son of the ikebana artist Teshigahara Wafu, a master of the Ikenobō school. Sōfū broke away from his father because he questioned the traditional ikebana of arranging flowers in a routine fashion. In 1927 Sōfū founded the Sōgetsu school, which advocates ikebana as art that respects the individuality of the person arranging the flowers, and he came to be known widely after appearing in the “Katei Koza” (Home Course) by JOAK (now NHK) the following year. He held exhibitions and demonstrations in Japan, Europe, and the United States throughout his life and raised ikebana to a world-class culture. He also carried on with a diverse range of creative activities until his last years, such as sculpture and painting.
Teshigahara started the Sogetsu school in a rented house with only three rooms in Aoyama Takaki-chō (now Minamiaoyama). Although he set up the school, he had no students for a year, so he immersed himself in studying ikebana while he painted fans and hand carved signboards for restaurants on the side. The school moved various places as the number of students increased, but the one he established in 1933 at 3-banchi Kōji-machi burned down during an air raid in World War II. The school was moved to Mita Tsuna-machi in 1947 and then to Akasaka in 1958 for the opening of the original Sōgetsu Hall.
The present Sōgetsu Hall was completed in 1977. The building was designed by Tange Kenzō, who had also designed the old one, and the Sōgetsu Plaza on the 1st floor contains the rock garden “Tengoku” (Heaven), created by Isamu Noguchi. Concerts are also held at Sōgetsu Hall, and the place is popular as a center where people can enjoy a wide range of art as well as ikebana.
https://www.lib.city.minato.tokyo.jp/yukari/e/man-detail.cgi?id=63 - accessed 4-24-23
Sōfū, the first son of an ikebana artist Wafu Teshigahara, was born in 1900 and started to take lessons in Ikebana from childhood. Gradually, his outstanding talent became apparent and drew peoples’ attention. However, he began to question the traditions of Ikebana in which people could not express their originality, so in 1927 he broke away from his father to found Sōgetsu School of Ikebana.
In 1928 Sōfū held the first Sōgetsu exhibition at Senbikiya in Ginza and his light modern style of Ikebana was so well received that he became the instructor in Ikebana lessons on NHK radio. The exhibitions that soon followed on the first one and the radio broadcasting made Sōgetsu well known.
During World War II, Ikebana activities were limited, but he opened "Teshigahara Sōfū and Ohara Hōun, Two-Man Exhibition” in 1945 and resumed activity post-war. Between 1950 and 1970, he did mounted exhibitions and demonstrations all over Europe and the U.S. In 1960 he received the Order of Arts and Letters, and in 1961 the Legion of Honor from the French government, and in 1962 the Minister of Education Awards for Art from Japan. In addition to Ikebana, he continued to create various sculptures, drawings and works of calligraphy until his death in 1979.
In 2001, a large retrospective exhibition of his works was held at the Setagaya Art Museum for the centennial anniversary of his birth. Interest in his achievements has continued to increase.
https://www.sogetsu.or.jp/e/about/iemoto/sohu/ - accessed 4/25/23.
Sōfū Teshigahara (勅使河原 蒼風 Teshigahara Sōfū, 1900–1979) was the founder of the Sōgetsu-ryū school of ikebana flower arranging.
He was born in Tokyo. He learned flower arranging from his father, who had studied many styles of different schools. In 1927 he started the Sōgetsu School. His son is the Japanese film director Teshigahara Hiroshi.
He believed that ikebana is an art and that the difference between the Sōgetsu School and Ikebana lies in the belief that once all the rules are learned and the techniques mastered, an unbounded field remains for freer personal expression using varied materials, not just flowers.
In 1929 he held the first Sogetsu exhibition at Ginza, in 1930 at the Josui Kaikan in Tokyo working with scrap metal, a new medium. In 1949 the first major post-war Sōgetsu exhibition was held at the Mitsukoshi Department Store in Ginza and proved to be revolutionary. Between 1950 and 1970, he held exhibitions and demonstrations across Europe and the United States.
Sōfū never deviated from the basic principles that distinguish ikebana from other forms of floral art: to grasp and express the feeling of the material, to express the third dimension and asymmetrical balance. The concept that was foremost in his teaching was that the principles never change, but rather that the form is always changing. His further belief was that ikebana should be considered art, not merely decoration and that it is for the entire world, not just Japan alone. In addition to ikebana, he continued to create various sculptures, drawings and works of calligraphy until his death.
The French government awarded him the Order of Arts and Letters in 1960, and the Legion of Honor in 1961. Japan bestowed the Minister of Education Awards for Art in 1962.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%8Df%C5%AB_Teshigahara - accessed 4-25-23.
Teshigahara Sōfū was born in 1900 as the eldest son of Ikebana artist Teshigahara Wafu. Starting to take lessons in Ikebana from childhood, he gradually began to attract attention for his outstanding talent however, in questioning the formalistic traditions of Ikebana, he broke away from his father to establish the Sōgetsu School of Ikebana in 1927. Together with Ōhara Hōun and Nakagawa Yukio, he eventually came to lead the postwar “avant-garde Ikebana movement,” which deviated from conventional practices of Ikebana, and resulted in its unprecedented and thriving popularity.
Teshigahara, who continued to express a strong interest in European art trends since prior to the war, had engaged in attempts to incorporate the experimental spirit of modern art into the context of Ikebana. During the postwar reconstruction period, he created works such as “Sanpo” [Walk] (1951) and “Kikansha” [Locomotive] (1951) combining vases crafted from iron with plants, later presenting the iron-based sculptural work “Mure” [Flock] (1953) that had dismissed the use of flowers entirely. In producing this work, Teshigahara had left a note that stated, “I hope to demonstrate that it is possible to create expressions using anything.” Through treating materials such as iron, stone, and wood as equivalent to flowers, he served to liberate Ikebana from its framework that had been reduced to a mere formality.
After his first visits to the United States in 1952 and Europe in 1955 where he had the opportunity to encounter numerous works of modern art, Teshigahara presented his wood sculpture “Jujū” [Tree Beast] (1955), which made use of the natural organic forms of pine tree roots. Since producing this work, the materials he used shifted to trees such as roots and lumps of bark, their scale also gradually increasing. Thereafter he continued to produce a succession of sculptural works of unprecedented scales that reflected the overwhelming vitality of plants, such as “Inochi” [Life] (1956) which appropriated three tons of thousand-year old wisteria vines; a 30-meter tall Ikebana work titled “Maten” [Babel] (1958), produced as a symbol for the Ise Grand Shrine Expo; as well as his representative works from the 1960s “Yakumo” (1962) and “Chikara” [Enerby] (1953) whose titles drew inspiration from the Kojiki [Records of Ancient Matters] –an early chronicle of myths, legends, songs, genealogies, and semi-historical accounts concerning the origins of Japan, its gods, and the imperial line.
The works of Teshigahara that had instilled Ikebana with a new modern figurativeness, had attracted the attention of art historians and artists from an early stage. From the early 1950s, he participated in group exhibitions in museums both in Japan and abroad, also presenting solo exhibitions in numerous museums and galleries such as the National Museum of Kyoto (1967) and the Palais Galliera (Paris, 1971). Michel Tapié, a theoretical promoter of Art Informel who made his first visit to Japan in 1957, had highly praised Teshigahara as one of the best avant-garde sculptors, and featured his works in many of the exhibitions he curated. Teshigahara had also significantly influenced Japanese art history as mentor and patron of avant-garde art, hosting the events by John Cage and David Tudor (1962) and Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s Japan performance (1964) at the Sōgetsu Art Center under the direction of his son Hiroshi.
Teshigahara’s main exhibitions include, “Teshigahara Sōfū in the Postwar Avant-Garde Era,” the Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo (2001); “Sōgetsu and Its Contemporaries,” the Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, and the Chiba City Museum of Art (1998-99); Haus Mei, Cologne (1972); the Palais Galliera, Paris (1971); the Middelheim Museum, Antwerp (1971); “The Sculpture of Teshigahara Sōfū,” The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (1967); the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels (1966); Lincoln Center, New York (1964); Sala Gaspar, Barcelona (1959); Stadler Gallery, Paris (1959 and 1961); Martha Jackson Gallery, New York (1959); and the Château de Bagatelle, Paris (1955). He has participated in group exhibitions such as “Art Contemporain,” Grand Palais, Paris (1963); “Dalla natura all’arte,” Palazzo Grassi, Venice (1960); “International Art of a New Era: Informel and Gutai,” Takashimaya Department Store, Osaka (1958); “International Contemporary Art Exhibition of the World,” the Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo (1957); and “Abstract Art and Surrealism,” The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (1953). In 1962 Teshigahara received The Minister of Education, Science and Culture’s Art Encouragement Prize, as well as the Legion of Honor Knight’s cordon and the insignia of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government in 1961 and 1960 respectively.
https://www.takaishiigallery.com/en/archives/26602/ - accessed 4-25-23.