Mokuma Kikuhata
1935–2020

Born in 1935 in Nagasaki.

In 1957, he joined the Kyushu-ha group, emerging as a promising painter. From 1958, he organized the Kyushu Independent Exhibition while also exhibiting at the Tokyo Yomiuri Independent Exhibition from 1957 onward.

In 1961, he was selected as one of fifteen participating artists in the Experimental Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and in 1962 held a solo exhibition at Minami Gallery (Tokyo). From this point, he attracted attention as a rising figure in avant-garde art.

He left the Kyushu-ha group in 1962. In 1964, he discovered the works of Chikuho coal miner painter Sakuhei Yamamoto and was profoundly influenced. At a time when Yamamoto’s works were largely unrecognized, Kikuhata wrote essays evaluating them as art. He contributed to the compilation of Yamamoto’s Chikuho Coal Mine Picture Scroll (1975), and in 1970 invited Yamamoto to Tokyo so that his students at the Bigaku School could copy his works. Through these efforts, Kikuhata played a pivotal role in establishing Yamamoto’s recognition as an artist and eventually contributed to his works being inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

Based in Fukuoka, Kikuhata also created numerous ceramic panel murals in public spaces.