下村 良之介 Ryonosuke SHIMOMURA 装

下村良之介は、京都を拠点に活躍した画家です。日本画の革新を目指して発足したパンリアル美術協会に身を置き、伝統にとらわれない前衛的な創作活動を展開しました。

1923年、大阪市に生まれた下村は12歳の頃京都に移住し、京都市立工芸美術学校、京都市立絵画専門学校にて学びを得ます。その後、学徒動員を経て本格的に画業を志し、1948年より先述のパンリアル美術協会に参加しました。日本画の描画材を使用しつつも、初期はキュビスムの手法を取り入れて新たな表現を模索し、また戦争での体験をきっかけに社会的な主題にも挑戦するなど、花鳥風月を主軸とする日本画の因習を打破していく姿勢が貫かれていました。そんな下村のテーマはやがて鳥へと絞られていき、筆触も建築用の墨を用いた鋭い描線へと変化を遂げます。そして1960年代後半に入ると、紙粘土によって画面をレリーフ状に盛り上げ、鳥のモチーフを化石のように形作るという、下村独自の造形にたどりつきました。

1980年代以降は、舞台美術や版画、「やけもの」と称する陶器など幅広いジャンルにおいて活動し、「反骨の画人」と呼ばれる彼らしい開拓精神を絶えず燃やしていました。

Ryonosuke Shimomura is a painter who was active based in Kyoto, Japan. He was part of the Pan-Real Art Association, which was formed with the aim of innovating traditional Japanese painting, and he engaged in avant-garde creative activities that were not bound by tradition.

Born in Osaka in 1923, he moved to Kyoto at the age of 12 and studied both the Kyoto Municipal Arts and Crafts School and the Kyoto Municipal Painting school. After experience of student mobilization during World War II, he dedicated himself to the pursuit of painting and joined the aforementioned Pan-Real Art Association in 1948. While using materials and techniques of traditional Japanese painting, he initially incorporated Cubism’s methods to explore new expressions. He also challenged social themes, inspired by his experiences during the war, breaking away from the conventional practices on the traditional subjects of flowers, birds, wind, and moon. Shimomura’s themes gradually narrowed down to birds, and his brushstrokes evolved into sharp lines using architectural ink. In the late 1960s, he began to create his own unique sculptures by shaping the surface of the artwork like relief using paper clay and forming bird motifs resembling fossils.

From the 1980s onwards, he worked in a wide range of genres, including stage art, printmaking, and ceramics called “Yakemono”. He constantly maintained a pioneering spirit that earned him the nickname “rebellious artist”.