Chapter 1
In search of New Expressions
 
Wasaburo Itozono was born in Nakatsu City, Oita Prefecture in 1911. As a son of a rich family that had run a kimono dealer business for generations, Itozono spent his childhood in a comfortable environment. However, at 11 years of age, he contracted osteomyelitis, a disease for which there was no effective treatment at that time. From that time, he was often hospitalized until his early 30s.
　The disease forced Itozono to abandon his hopes of advancing to secondary education after graduating from the local elementary school. At 16, he moved to Tokyo and started studying painting at Kawabata Art Academy (Kawabata Gagakko) on his father’s recommendation. In 1929, greatly inspired by the work of Kanji Maeta displayed at an exhibition of the 1930 Association, Itozono entered the Institute run by Maeta. The next year’s Shunyo Art Exhibition was the first collective exhibition for which Itozono’s work was selected. His works were also selected for Dokuritsu Exhibitions many times from 1931. Around that time, he also actively participated in groups of young avant-garde artists, including the Shiki-kai (later renamed Kazarie) and the Bijutsu Bunka Art Association, attracting special attention as a promising emerging surrealist in the Japanese art world. In 1943, in response to a call from Chozaburo Inoue, he participated in founding a group named Shinjinga-kai together with Aimitsu, Shunsuke Matsumoto, Saburo Aso and other artists. He was loyal to his conscience as a painter throughout the war, despite stricter thought control and restricted freedom of expression.
　After the end of WWII, Itozono returned to Nakatsu and continued his artistic creation there. In 1947, he joined the artists’ association named Jiyu Bijutsu-ka Kyokai. Around that time, Itozono created works featuring rather abstract forms, such as Woman Catching a Bird, which depicts a woman with a bird in her hands in a simplified strong form, while representing familial love lyrically in the Mother and Children series of pen drawings.

Chapter 2
Gazing at Society　　　
 
After his postwar years in Nakatsu, Itozono returned to Tokyo in October 1956. In 1958, he began to work as a lecturer at the College of Art, Nihon University, giving guidance to young artists-to-be.
    Around the mid-1950s, he started using further simplified forms to depict human bodies and creating bold and powerful compositions, as evidenced in Cross and Wall. These works portray the alienation and destruction of human beings in that era in a unique poetical style, representing Itozono’s critical gaze at postwar society. The two abovementioned works and Woman Catching a Bird were selected for the 4th São Paulo Art Biennial in 1957, earning Itozono a high domestic and international reputation.
    In 1968, Itozono unveiled a series of two works on the theme of the Vietnam War: Black Water and Yellow Water. This series received the Mr. K Award in the 8th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura in the same year, and was also selected for the 12th Yasui Award Exhibition in 1969. The series, which he had painted based on news photos taken in Vietnam, became a focus of public attention as a non-poetic, straightforward representation of the reticent painter’s impressions of the fierce war situation.

Chapter 3
Gazing into the Mind
 
With his physical condition gradually deteriorating from around 1958, Itozono was hospitalized in 1959. He was diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm and soon began to prepare to undergo surgery. However, hearing his doctor say it was uncertain whether he would be able to return to work as a painter even if the surgery succeeded, Itozono left the hospital despite the opposition of those around him. Afterward, he continued to paint in a tranquil, prayer-like manner with both strong motivation for creation and fear of death, without receiving medical treatment. The painting Birds and a Young Man, which depicts a youth gazing at birds flying away, is one of the works he created soon after leaving the hospital. This work may portray an image he had in his mind while fearing death.
    Many of Itozono's works are pictorial representations of his long-matured mental images, rather than scenes that he actually observed. Simplified forms, minute touches of paint given to the surfaces, and other features of his works at that time show the influence of informalism, which was rapidly expanding its reach in the art world at that time. A combination of realism with unrealistic elements, as well as the surrealistic technique, underpinned Itozono’s unique style until the final years of his painting career.

Chapter 4
Celebration of humanity

In 1964, Itozono left Jiyu Bijutsu Kyokai (formerly “Jiyu Bijutsu-ka Kyokai”) in the wake of a major disagreement among the members of the association. Thereafter, he never belonged to any large artists’ association. Instead, he formed small groups with his peers: Ryosan-kai with Ren Ito, Noriyuki Ushijima, Tai Nakatani, and others; Nami-no-kai with other disciples of Kanji Maeta, including Aoi Shima, Tadao Tanaka, and Kikue Yamada; and Jyuten with his former fellow members of Jiyu Bijutsu Kyokai, including Masaaki Terada, Goro Ono, and Tadashi Yoshii. He began to use exhibitions of these groups as opportunities to make his works public.
　 In the 1970s and later, Itozono no longer included strong social messages in his works. Many of his subsequent works depict subjects close to him, as seen by An Old Lady and a Child and Old Folks on Swings, both of which address the theme of aging, and Hill Modeled on My Elder Brother and Clod, both of which deal with the death of his elder brother. These works depict desolate but transparent and clear worlds of imagery with even more delicate touches than before.
    In his later years, Itozono suffered from an eye problem, causing him to gradually lose his eyesight. As his condition deteriorated, he repeatedly portrayed a large camphor tree standing at the elementary school in his hometown. A representative of those works is Large Tree on a Hill, which depicts a large tree and people nestled in the warm light of love shed by the tree. This work may represent where Itozono finally arrived through his lifelong spiritual journey after overcoming various sufferings.

Brief Biography of Wasaburo Itozono
Wasaburo Itozono was born in Nakatsu City, Oita Prefecture. After studying oil painting at the Institute run by Kanji Maeta  (Shajitsu Kenkyusho), he continuously entered his works at Dokuritsu Exhibitions. He also made his surrealist works public at exhibitions of small groups, attracting special attention in the Japanese art world. He participated in founding the Bijutsu Bunka Art Association in 1939. In 1943, in response to a call from Chozaburo Inoue, he participated in founding a group named “Shinjinga-kai” together with Aimitsu, Shunsuke Matsumoto, Saburo Aso, and other artists. He was loyal to his conscience as a painter throughout the war, despite restricted freedom of expression. After the end of WWII, he continued to enter his works to exhibitions of Jiyu Bijutsu-ka Kyokai for many years. Poetically depicting the anxiety and loneliness of modern people, his works were popular among a wide range of viewers. After leaving Jiyu Bijutsu Kyokai (formerly “Jiyu Bijutsu-ka Kyokai”) in 1964, he had his works displayed mainly at group exhibitions.

Chronology of the Life of Wasaburo Itozono
1911: Born in Nakatsu City, Oita Prefecture
1922 (age 11): Suffered from osteomyelitis and underwent surgery, crushing his hopes of advancing to secondary education after graduating from elementary school
1927 (age 16): Moved to Tokyo with his second elder brother and attended the Kawabata Art Academy (Kawabata Gagakko) on his father’s recommendation
1929 (age 18): Gained great inspiration from a work of Kanji Maeta and entered the Institute run by Maeta
1930 (age 19): First selected for a collective exhibition: the 8th Shunyo Art Exhibition
1934 (age 23): Began to have his surrealistic works in public
1943 (age 32): Participated in founding a group named “Shinjinga-kai” in response to a call from Chozaburo Inoue
1947 (age 36): Joined Jiyu Bijutsu-ka Kyokai together with other members of Shinjinga-kai
1957 (age 46): Entered his work in the domestic exhibition of the São Paulo Art Biennial
1958 (age 47): Began to work as a lecturer at the College of Art, Nihon University (until 1981)
1959 (age 48): Diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm but left the hospital without receiving medical treatment
1968 (age 57): Entered Black Water and Yellow Water at the 8th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan and received the Mr. K Award
1978 (age 67): Exhibition Works of Wasaburo Itozono held at the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art and the Oita Prefectural Art Center
1995 (age 84): Exhibition Wasaburo Itozono and His Era held at the Oita Prefectural Art Center
2001 (age 89): Passed away in Tokyo