Shigeru Morita

Shigeru Morita (; 30 March 1907 – 2 March 2009) was a Japanese oil painter. His works were mainly centered on , and were exhibited multiple times across his career.

Biography

Early life and education Morita was born in the Makabe district of Ibaraki Prefecture in the Japanese empire on 3 March 1907. He attended the Shimodate boys junior high school in 1913. Due to his father's work, he moved frequently between Tokyo and Shimodate. In 1917, he moved with his parents to Osaka and started studying at the Daiichi Nishinoda elementary school.

Artistic career In 1926, one of his paintings was selected for the third Hakugakai art exhibition. The same year, he talked to , who encouraged him to move to Tokyo. In 1928, he quit his job at the Ota junior high school and moved to Tokyo, where he started working in an elementary school. In 1930, one of his paintings was selected to be exposed at the seventh Enjusha art exhibition, and one year later, another one of his paintings was chosen for the eight Enjusha art exhibition. In 1931, he enrolled at the Kumaoka western painting institute. Multiple of his works in the 1930s were shown across multiple exhibitions, notably the first Tōkō exhibition and the Imperial Art Exhibition. In 1946, he was selected for the second Japanese art exhibit, an exhibit in which he has presented artwork ever since. In 1976, he became a member of the Japanese art academy, and in 1982, he became an advisor for the Nitten. Morita was awarded the Order of Culture in 1993.

Death Morita continued painting during his final years. He died from pneumonia at the St. Luke's Hospital in Tokyo on 2 March 2009 at the age of 101.