Shunsuke Matsumoto

Shunsuke Matsumoto (松本 竣介) was a Japanese painter, who primarily painted in the Yōga ("Western painting") style.

Matsumoto is known for his urban landscapes.

His works can be divided into two series: those depicting anonymous urban landscapes and people in cold blue tones in a montage style, and those depicting Tokyo and Yokohama landscapes in dull brown tones.

Matsumoto was born on April 19, 1912, in Shibuya, Tokyo as Shunsuke Satō (佐藤俊介).

Matsumoto was the second son of father Katsumi and mother Hana, and had an elder brother, Akira, who was two years older than him.

Matsumoto attended Iwate Normal Elementary School (岩手師範付属小学校), graduated at the top of his class in 1925, and entered Morioka Junior High School (岩手県立盛岡中学校) with the highest grades.

The day before the school entrance ceremony, he had a headache, but pushed himself to attend the ceremony and the next morning he contracted cerebrospinal meningitis which caused the loss of his hearing.

He was discharged from the hospital in early autumn and started school in October 1925.

The future sculptor Yasutake Funakoshi was among his schoolmates in the same grade.

Matsumoto’s father, Katsumi, wanted to send his son to the Military Training School, but when Matsumoto’s deafness cut off his path to a military career, Katsumi decided to let his son become an engineer as he wished, and bought Matsumoto a camera and equipment for developing pictures.

Matsumoto was enthusiastic about it for a while, but soon lost interest in cameras.

At that time, Matsumoto’s elder brother Akira bought a set of oil painting tools and sent them to his younger brother, leading Matsumoto to start painting.

From the summer of his second year of junior high school, Matsumoto became passionate about sketching, and in his third year he created a painting club at school.

He gradually began to aspire to become a painter.

In March 1929, Matsumoto dropped out of Morioka Junior High School in his third year and moved to Tokyo.

Matsumoto’s primary school teacher, Mizuhiko Sato, was working at Jiyū Gakuen, which was then located in Ikebukuro, and with his support Matsumoto was able to rent a house next door to Sato.

From there, he began attending the Pacific Art Institute (太平洋画会研究所; later renamed the Pacific Art School 太平洋美術学校).

At the time, there was an ongoing conflict between the students and the management over tuition fees.

As a result, in the late autumn of 1930 the institute changed its name, re-starting as an art school.

The shift to an art school led many students, including Aimitsu, Chōzaburō Inoue, and Masao Tsuruoka (whom Matsumoto did not know at the time) to leave, but Matsumoto chose to remain at the school.

At the Pacific Art School, Matsumoto received training from Gorō Tsuruta.

At the time he was attending the Pacific Art School, Matsumoto was hugely interested in Modigliani's art and life.

Matsumoto formed a group called Akamame (赤荳), which is a Japanese translation of the name of a girl in the biographical novel of Modigliani, Les Montparnos, written by Georges Michel.

Around 1930, Masaharu Taniguchi, the founder of the Seichō no ie, told Akira that he was going to publish an art magazine, Seimei no Geijutsu (生命の藝術; Art of Life) (first published in 1933), and Akira invited Matsumoto to take charge of its editing.

With his fellow (mostly Marxist) artists at the Pacific Art School, Matsumoto also co-founded a group called the Pacific Modern Art Study Group (太平洋近代藝術研究会), and published a magazine called Sen (線 meaning "Line"; the first issue was published in September 1931).

However, Matsumoto did not agree with the Marxist theory of art and Sen was terminated after two issues.

In 1932, he rented an atelier with his fellow artists in Ikebukuro, where many artists lived and worked, and formed an artistic community called Ikebukuro Montparnasse.

At this time, he became romantically involved with a model, Masayo Iwamoto, but this caused a rift between the friends and the joint atelier was dissolved after five months.

During the period of the joint atelier, he underwent a conscription examination in his hometown, but was exempted from military service because of his deafness.

After the dissolution of the atelier, Matsumoto started living with his brother Akira.

Matsumoto’s father Katsumi was originally a Christian, but converted to Nichiren Buddhism and later became a believer of Seichō no ie.

Matsumoto’s elder brother Akira also became a believer of the Seichō no ie under the influence of his father's enthusiastic encouragement.

However, Matsumoto was not initially keen on this offer, and it was not until three years later in 1933 that he agreed to edit the magazine.

In 1933, Matsumoto became acquainted with Aimitsu.

In 1935, Matsumoto exhibited at the exhibition of the NOVA Art Association, founded by Masao Tsuruoka and others, and was immediately recommended as a full member of the association.

Before his marriage in 1936, Matsumoto's maiden name was Satō (he took the surname Matsumoto after marrying Teiko Matsumoto 松本禎子).

Matsumoto moved to Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, when he was two years old due to his father's participation in the apple wine brewing business, and later to his father's hometown Morioka, Iwate Prefecture when he was ten.

Together with Akira, Matsumoto began editing the Seimei no Geijutsu and continued until 1936.

It was at this workplace that he met his future wife, Teiko Matsumoto.

For a short period between 1947 and 1948, Matsumoto also painted Cubist-style works.