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| The Prodigal Son |
Japanese Christian artist Watanabe Sadao (1913–1996) was a textile artist who worked in the
katazome technique of stenciling and dyeing, which he learned while studying under master artist
Serizawa Keisuke (1895-1984). Keisuke had originally been trained in graphic design, but later became very involved in the
mingei movement, which sought to recognize the beauty and significance of Japanese folk art of various media. Keisuke studied under
Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961), the founder of the
mingei movement. Soetsu and his associates had scoured Japan for the finest examples of Japanese folk art of various media and in 1936 created the
Japan Folk Craft Museum in Tokyo in which to display them. Anne H. H. Pyle writes that Soetsu's
concept of mingei folk art consisted of objects made by hand from natural materials in sufficient number to serve or to be used by the masses of people daily, and he argued that “it was because they were used that they were beautiful” (p. 21).
