Keiko Minami

Keiko Minami (南 桂子) was a Japanese artist, aquatint engraver, and poet.

She is best known for her pictograph-like aquatints with a whimsical, childlike aesthetic.

Keiko Minami was born in the Imizu District of Toyama Prefecture in 1911.

She was orphaned at a young age and was raised along with her sisters by their uncle.

Her grandmother, Setsuko was the younger sister of the scientist Jōkichi Takamine.

Her father, Tatsuyoshi Minami graduated from the University of Tokyo Law School and was once in the faculty of law at the University of Tokyo.

Her mother, Kiyo, was a poet who studied in the Department of Japanese Literature at Japan Women's University.

Minami expressed an early interest in the arts.

She painted and wrote poetry in high school, and studied the art of children's stories under the Japanese novelist and poet Sakae Tsuboi.

She attended the School of Fine Arts Tokyo (東京美術学校), now called the Tokyo University of the Arts (東京藝術大学), from 1927 until 1929.

Between early 30s and mid-40s, Minami likely returned to and stayed in Toyama.

She got married and had a son.

After the war in 1945, Minami moved to Tokyo with her son.

Introduced by Ineko Sata, she studied literature from writer Sakae Tsuboi and oil painting from Western-style painter Yoshio Mori.

In 1949, she exhibited her oil painting Lyric Poetry at the 13th Free Art Exhibition (自由美術展).

Around that time, Minami met her future husband, the mezzotint artist Yōzō Hamaguchi at Mori's studio.

Minami and Hamaguchi moved to Paris in late 1953 where Minami began studying under Friedlaender, a pioneer in aquatint etching at the time, at the Johnny Friedlaender Print Institute.

She became a member of the Free Artist Association in 1955, and in 1956 her work Fūkei (風景, Landscape) was purchased by the French Ministry of Education.

In 1957, Hitsujikai no shōjo (羊飼いの少女, Shepherdess with Her Flock) was selected to be on the Christmas card from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in 1958, Heiwa no ki (平和の木, Tree of Peace) was reprinted on the greeting card of UNICEF, and Minami was named Official Artist of the United Nations in 1959.

More than 2 million of these greeting cards were issued and reprinted at least twice.

In the 1960s, Minami's interest in literature led her to take on illustration projects for writers.

In 1961, Heinz Berggruen, a dealer in modern prints known for his collection of 20th-century masterpieces, became Keiko's exclusive art dealer.

Later on, UNICEF used Kodomo to hanataba to inu (子供と花束と犬, Children, Bouquets and Dogs) as part of its 1966 calendar.

From 1968, eight of Minami's illustrations were included in The Complete Works of World Literature 46 Beauvoir / Duras (世界文学全集 46 ボーヴォワール/デュラス) and the year after, she illustrated Takehiko Fukunaga’s Childhood and Others (幼年 その他) — both published by Kodansha.

Shuntarō Tanikawa’s poetry collection Utsumuku Seinen (うつむく青年, Depressed Youth), published in 1970, included Minami's illustrations and cover design.

Tanikawa had once dedicated a poem to the artist, titled Dō no fetishizumu Minami Keiko-san ni (銅のフェティシズム 南桂子さんに, Copper Fetishism to Keiko Minami).

In 1981, Minami moved from Paris to San Francisco and returned to Japan in 1996 after more than forty years abroad.

During this time domestic institutions continued to recognize Minami's artistic merit.

By 1982, all guest rooms of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo were decorated with the artist's copperplate prints.

In 1984, Minami was nominated as an honorary member of the Japan Print Association (日本版画協会).

In the hotel's informational magazine Imperial, which was launched in 1992, Minami's works were on the cover from No. 1 to No. 13 issues.

In 1998, Musée Hamaguchi Yōzō/Yamasa Collection (ミュゼ浜口陽三·ヤマサコレクション) was opened in Nihonbashi Kakigara-chō, Tokyo, and Minami's works are also on permanent display.

In 2000, her husband Yōzō Hamaguchi died and Minami died December 1, 2004, at a hospital in Minato-ku, Tokyo, due to myocardial infarction.

Some guest rooms were still decorated with works from Minami in 2011.