Madokoro Akutagawa Saori

was a Japanese painter whose works were often associated with primitivism, folkloric and mythological subjects, as well as unique dyeing techniques. Her paintings from the 1950s manifest various themes from distorted and dramatic portrayal of women to divine narratives based on traditional Japanese folklore. After briefly studying and living in the US, Akutagawa shifted her artistic exploration towards abstraction before her death at a young age in 1966. They had 2 daughters.

Beginning in the early 1950s, she began learning ikebana, silk dyeing, and made a return to painting. She studied wax dyeing with Michikata Noguchi and oil painting at the institute of Genichiro Inokuma. During this time, the artist was also strongly inspired by Yoshishige Saito.

In the 1950s, Akugatawa's dye paintings were exhibited at various venues. Teikyū suru susa noomikoto (涕泣する須佐之男命) was exhibited at the 4th Peace Art Exhibition (平和美術展). Kamigami no tanjō: Shiwa yori (神々の誕生: 神話より, From a Myth: the Birth of Gods, 1956) was included in the 41st Nika Exhibition. Hachihyaku-kami no hakugai (八百神の迫害, Persecution of Eight Hundred Gods) was selected to be in the World·Today's Art Exhibition at Takashimaya Department Store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. In 1957, in the second edition of the Exhibition of Four Artists (with Tatsuo Ikeda, On Kawara, Taizo Yoshinaka) at Muramatsu Gallery, Akutagawa exhibited multiple works including Nihonbuson no dokugyo taiji (日本武尊の毒魚退治) and Shiwa yori 4: Minwa yori ten kakeru (神話より(4)民話より天かける, From a Myth 4: Flying in the Air, 1956). Also at Muramatsu Gallery in the same year, the third solo exhibition of Akugatawa featured Kojikiyori (古事記より), which culminated a series of mythological works. 2002 Saori Akutagawa's Art, Nagoya City Museum 2008 Vibrant Colors, Unrestrained Image: Saori Akutagawa Exhibition, Yokosuka Museum of Art

Group Exhibition 1954 6th Yomiuri Indépendant Exhibition & 4th Modern Art Exhibition 1955 7th Yomiuri Indépendant Exhibition & 5th Modern Art Exhibition (won the Newcomer's Prize, 新人賞) & 40th Nika Exhibition & New Artists of Today: 1955 Exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa 1956 8th Yomiuri Indépendant Exhibition & 41st Nika Exhibition & 4th Peace Art Exhibition & Four-Artists group exhibition, Sato Gallery, Tokyo 1957 9th Yomiuri Indépendant Exhibition & 42nd Nika Exhibition & 11th Women Artists Association Exhibition (女流画家協会展) (won the Funaoka Prize 船岡賞) 1958 43rd Nika Exhibition 1960 Japan-America Women Painters, Riverside Art Museum, New York 1963 11th Women Artists Association Exhibition 2001 Japanese Women Artists before and after WWII, 1930s-1950s, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts 2005 Japanese Women Artists in Avant-Garde Movements, 1950-1975, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts 2012 TOKYO 1955-1970: A NEW Avant-Garde, Museum of Modern Art, New York 2016 Ecce Homo: See the Modern Human Image, The National Museum of Art, Osaka

Collection Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Woman (I), Woman (B), Myth — Birds of Gods, From the Japanese Myth, Black and Brown, Sphinx ) National Museum of Art, Osaka Hatonomori Art Bohemian's Gallery Nukaga Gallery