Kōtarō Takamura


Kōtarō Takamura was a Japanese poet and sculptor.

Biography

Takamura was the eldest son of Japanese sculptor Takamura Kōun. He graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1902, where he studied sculpture and oil painting. He studied in New York, at the Art Students League of New York City in 1906. While in New York Takamura studied under the well known sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Takamura's time spent in America was hard and had great impact on his sculpture work and literary work. Takamura additionally studied in London in 1907, where he met his best friend Bernard Leach. Finishing his studies in Paris in 1908, returning to Japan in 1909, and lived there for the rest of his life. His sculptural work shows strong influence both from Western work and from the Shirakabaha society. Takamura dedicated his artwork style to separating itself from the traditional Japanese style of art. Takamura and other artist were seen as leaders of a revolution in Japanese artwork.
He is also famous for his poems, and especially for his 1941 collection Chiekoshō, a collection of poems about his wife, the oil painter, paper artist and early member of the Japanese feminist movement, Chieko Takamura née Naganuma, who died in 1938. In 1951 Takamura received the 2nd Yomiuri Prize.

Published works