They are well known for not only depicting Japanese people as victims but also as participants in violent acts. The couple, who were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, began drawing what they witnessed in Hiroshima soon after arriving in the city, using the destruction left in the wake of the atomic bomb as inspiration for expressing and exploring themes of violence.
"So I am honored to have played a role in (restoring) this work, which should be handed down to posterity." Maruki wanted to convey first," Saito said. Saito says that when "Ghosts" arrived at the institute, she found herself overwhelmed more by its powerful realism than the macabre scene depicted in the work.Īfter receiving guidance from a senior member of the institute, Saito carefully applied glue onto paper to cover the joints of the panels for the final stage of the painting's restoration.īorn in Mihama, Aichi Prefecture, Saito studied Japanese painting at university and joined the institute in April 2015, beginning work on the restoration in December 2021.
The project served as "a catalyst that made me more aware of the atomic bombings," Saito said at the university's Institute for Conservation of Cultural Property in Nagakute, where she worked on restoring the painting until the end of May. Photo shows Iri Maruki (L) and his wife, Toshi, producing artwork at their studio in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, in 1990. The restored panel will be displayed at the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, from July 20, where the collection is preserved.Īs the artwork had become moth-eaten and suffered significant deterioration over the years, the gallery had to pay several million yen in restoration costs.
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Named "Ghosts," the restored painting depicts otherworldly humans wandering with their arms extended in front of them, their clothes incinerated and their skin badly burned. The artists walked through the burnt-out wastelands of the city, becoming exposed to the bomb's residual radiation while gathering material for what became a 15-piece artwork series, released between 19.
The work is based on the couple's experiences of traveling to Hiroshima just days after it was struck by a U.S. Photo taken on May 30, 2023, shows Haruka Saito after completing restoration work on "Ghosts," the first painting of "The Hiroshima Panels" series, in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture.
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