Isaacs Art Center

Sanzo Wada (1883-1967)

Sanzo Wada was born in 1883. Sanzo Wada studied Western style painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He graduated in 1904. From 1907 until 1914 he studied Western art in Europe. Back in Japan, the artist was primarily active as a painter and exhibited at the state-sponsored art shows Bunten and Teiten. From 1927 on Sanzo Wada taught at Tokyo School of Fine Arts. In 1927 he was appointed a member of the Imperial Arts Academy. By now he was a well-known artist and a firm part of the establishment of the Japanese society. 



Sanzo Wada, like many other Japanese artists of the time, contributed to the nationalistic militarism of the Japanese government of the 1930s and until 1945 with propaganda paintings and illustrations. The role of Japanese painters and printmakers within the system of Japan's agressive, nationalistic ideology from the late 1930s (China, Korea, Manchuria) until 1945 is usually not mentioned in the literature. 



Among collectors of Japanese prints Sanzo Wada is mainly known for a woodblock print series showing traditional and modern occupations in Japan. The series was started in 1938 under the title Showa Shokugyo E-zukushi - Sketches of Occupations in Showa Era - published by Nishinomiya Shoin. The series was stopped in 1943 during the Pacific war and was continued in 1954 (until 1958) under the new title Zoku Showa Shokugyo E-zukushi - Continuing Sketches of Occupations in Showa Era. This continuation was published by the original publisher's new company, now re-opened as Kyoto Hanga-in. The first part, stopped in 1943, consists of 48 prints, the second part, published after the Pacific war, has 24 designs.



In the 1950s Sanzo Wada designed theater and film costumes. He even received the American Motion Picture Academy Award in 1955 for costume designs for the film "Gates of Hell". In 1958 Sanzo Wada received the order of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government. He died in 1967.