須田剋太／Suda Kokuta

須田剋太は、司馬遼太郎による紀行文「街道をゆく」の挿絵画家としてよく知られています。一方で、具象画と抽象画を自由に行き来しながら、独自の芸術を生涯にわたって追求し続けた側面も見逃せません。

1906年、埼玉県吹上市（現・鴻巣市）に生まれた須田は、旧制中学を卒業後に画家を目指し、東京美術学校を受験します。4回にわたる挑戦はいずれも不合格に終わりますが、浦和（現・さいたま市）に出て独学で油絵を学び、光風会や文展、日展で受賞歴を重ねながら、めきめきと頭角を現していきました。戦後は関西へと移り住み、その地で洋画家の長谷川三郎（1906-1957）と出会います。長谷川の知遇を得た須田は抽象画へ転向し、力強く奔放なタッチで、独創性に富んだ造形を次々と生み出しました。この頃、道元の禅にも目覚めます。

そして先述の通り、1971年から1990年に亡くなるまで「街道をゆく」シリーズの挿絵を担当し、その中で抽象画から具象画へと回帰していきました。また、書の世界においても優れた作品を残しており、彼の自由で多彩な才能は晩年に至るまで輝き続けました。

Kokuta Suda is well known as the illustrator for the travelogue ” Kaidō wo Yuku (Journey Along the Roads)” written by Ryotaro Shiba. On the other hand, it is important not to overlook his pursuit of his own unique art throughout his life, freely moving between figurative and abstract paintings.

Born in 1906 in Fukiage City, Saitama Prefecture (now Konosu City), he aimed to become a painter after graduating from the prewar junior high school and attempted to enter the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Despite making four attempts, he was unsuccessful each time. However, he moved to Urawa (now Saitama City) and self-studied oil painting, rapidly gaining recognition by winning awards at Japanese art organization’s exhibitions such as Kofukai, Bunten, and Nitten. After the war, he relocated to the Kansai region and there he met the Western-style painter Saburo Hasegawa (1906-1957). Under Hasegawa’s mentorship, he shifted to abstract painting and created a series of original and innovative forms with a powerful and unrestrained touch. During this time, he also became interested in Dogen’s Zen.

As mentioned earlier, from 1971 until his passing in 1990, he was in charge of illustrating the “Kaidō wo Yuku (Journey Along the Roads)” series, and during this period, he returned from abstract to figurative painting. And also, he made significant contributions in the realm of calligraphy, his freely versatile and unrestricted talent that continued to shine until his later years.