Brass vase

Kitahara developed an innovative style that changed the usual image of metal carving as being fine and detailed. This brass jar is symbolic of the new direction he presented with his pictorial metal carving method.

Kitahara Senroku, who was one of the founding members of the Mukei craft group, formed the organization Kojinsha with other young artists like Osuga Takashi and Yamawaki Yoji in 1927 (disbanded 1940), aiming to become an organization for metalworking that respected the freedom of each individual artist and rooted itself in modern life.
After graduating from the Kagawa Prefectural Polytechnic School in his home town, Kitahara studied in the metalworking course of the Tokyo Fine Arts School. After graduating in 1911, he worked as a teacher at the Tokyo Prefectural Polytechnic school. He excelled in traditional metal carving techniques even as a student, as is evident in his copy of the classical masterpiece Sword guard with Nio (Deva King) design. In the present jar, designs of a cow, goat, plants, and flowers have been carved by dot-line engraving in a rough-hewn manner, as if making a drawing. This kind of pictorial metal carving was first begun by Kitahara and had a major influence on such young metalworking artists as Yamawaki Yoji.
Kitahara won highest honors for two consecutive years at the Teiten exhibition after its establishment of a crafts section and also continued participating actively in the Nitten exhibition. (Writer : Misato Gomi Source : Selected Masterpieces from The University Art Museum, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music: Grand Opening Exhibition, The University Art Museum, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, 1999)