Setsuko Migishi

Migishi Setsuko (三岸節子, January 3, 1905 – April 18, 1999) was a Japanese yōga (Western-style) painter. Known for employing vivid colors and bold strokes for still-life and landscape, Migishi contributed greatly to the establishment and elevation of the status of female artists in the Japanese art scene.

Early years Born Setsuko Yoshida in Nakashima-gun (later Oniishi, now Ichinomiya), Aichi Prefecture, into a wealthy family who built a textile factory in Owari, she was the sixth of ten children. Her birth family was a wealthy landowner who ran a woolen cloth manufacturing business. Due to a congenital dislocation of the hip joint, Migishi had a major operation during her infant times at a hospital in Nagoya. One year later, Migishi transferred as a second-year student to the Women’s Art School/Joshibi University of Art and Design, a private women's art school in Suginami, Japan, and graduated top-class in 1924.

Migishi gave birth to their first daughter in March 1925. In the same month, her works Jigazō (自画像, Self-Portrait), Fūkei (風景, Landscape), Sazanka (山茶花, Camellia), and Kijō nika (机上二果, Two Fruits on a Table) were accepted to the 3rd Shunyō-kai Exhibition (春陽会展). From there, she continued to exhibit works at the Shunyō-kai Exhibition. In April of the same year, Migishi, together with Hitoyo Kai and Koko Fukazawa, formed the Women's Yōga Association (婦人洋画協会). After Kōtarō's death in 1934 at the age of 31, Migishi continued to work while raising three children. In 1935 at the Independent's 5th exhibition, Migishi’s Momoiro no nuno (桃色の布, Pink Cloth), Mado (窓, Window), Kurenai no nuno (紅の布, Crimson Cloth) were accepted and the artist became a friend (会友) of the Association. However, in four years, Migishi would quit from Dokuritsu in protest of the association's decision not to admit female painters as members. In January 1936, seven female painters, Haruko Hasegawa, Yoneko Saeki, Eiko Fujikawa, Aoi Shima, Yōko Toyama, Setsuko Migishi, and Hanako Hashimoto, organized a new organization, Nanasai-kai (七彩会), one of the first woman artist collectives in Japan. Migishi also turned to the Shin Seisaku-ha Kyōkai (新制作派協会, New Production Association) and became a member in the same year.

In 1951, she exhibited Hana (花, Flower) at the 1st São Paulo Biennial. The following year, Migishi’s activities as an artist continued to expand internationally, as she exhibited at the Salon de Mai in Paris and the 18th Carnegie International Art Exhibition in Pittsburgh. In 1953, she broke off her five-year long relationship to Keisuke Sugano, an oil painter.

From April 2, 1991 to May 19, 1992, the National Museum of Women in the Arts displayed Setsuko Migishi: A Retrospective featuring her abstract landscapes and still lives.