SERIZAWA Keisuke

Born 1895 in Shizuoka, Japan. Died in 1984

Medium: Katazome stencil design

In 1956, he was designated as a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government for his katazome stencil dyeing technique. A leading member of the mingei movement founded by Yanagi Sōetsu, that celebrated the beauty of “ordinary people’s crafts”. Serizawa also visited Okinawa several times and learned the Ryūkyū bingata techniques of dyeing.

His folk-art productions included kimono, paper prints, wall scrolls, folding screens, curtains, fans, and calendars. He also produced illustrated books, including Don Quixote, Vincent van Gogh and A Day at Mashiko.

In 1981, the Municipal Serizawa Keisuke Art Museum was opened in the city of Shizuoka. Another museum, the Serizawa Keisuke Art and Craft Museum was opened in 1989 in Sendai. Other museums that hold his work include the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Harvard Art Museums, the Seattle Art Museum, the British Museum, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the Museum of New Zealand.