Shiko munakata biography of michael

Munakata Shiko was born on September 3, 1903, in Aomori Prefecture, the third son of a blacksmith in a family of twelve children. 

Self-taught in European-style oil painting, the young Munakata often traversed the countryside sketching and painting landscapes mimetic of his idol, Vincent van Gogh. At the age of eighteen, he and his friends established the Seikokai (Blue Light Society), featuring in annual exhibitions for townsfolk. 

Despite his local celebrity, the highly-ambitious Munakata wanted to pursue a career as a professional artist. In 1924 he moved to Tokyo and worked as an itinerant shoe salesman and street peddler while painting in his spare time. In 1926, he discovered Kawakami Sumio's Early Summer Wind at a local gallery and became inspired to produce mokuhanga prints. In 1928, one of Munakata's oil paintings was accepted by the Teiten gallery, and Shimozawa Kihachiro, a fellow contemporary, introduced him to sosaku hanga artist Hiratsuk Biography of michael jackson!