Shinkichi Tajiri (1923 – 2009) was born in Los Angeles, as a son of Japanese parents. He was a sculptor, first and foremost, but he was also involved with photography and made a number of award-winning films, videos, stereo and panoramic photos. His life and artworks include Asian, American and European elements.
After the war he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1947-1948 and then left for Paris, where he first studied with the sculptor Zadkine and later with the painter Léger. Tajiri was one of the first artists who created junk sculptures. With this, he earned the admiration of the Dutch CoBrA artists who resided in Paris. They invited him to take part in the first and second International Exhibition of Experimental Art (CoBrA), respectively in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 1949 and Museé des Beaux Arts, Liège 1951. In 1956, Tajiri took up residence in Amsterdam and in 1962 he moved, together with his wife Ferdi and their two daughters.
In 1969 Tajiri was appointed professor at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin on request by its art students, where he taught until 1989. During this period he started to experiment with an array of different media including his own off-set printing press (X-Press), nearly forgotten photography methods, such as the Daguerreotypes and his computer drawings on the Commodore Amiga.
After Tajiri passed away the renewed Rijksmuseum (2013), Amsterdam acquired the sculpture Made in USA as well as Ferdi’s Wombtomb, which are on permanent display in the 20th-century collection of the museum.
© 2019. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by The Shinkichi Tajiri Estate or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Shinkichi Tajiri |
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| Shinkichi Tajiri at work |
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| 1949, Guerrier |
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| 1950, Angel II |
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| 1950, warrior (Plaster) |
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| 1953, Knight |
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| 1955, Lock |
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| 1955, Overhand Knot |
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| 1955, Victory |
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| 1956, Végétation agressive |
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| 1960, Mountain |
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| 1961, Fortress |
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| 1961, Head |
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| 1961, Seed |
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| 1961, warrior |
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| 1962, Obiit |
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| 1963, Orbit |
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| 1963, Seed |
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| 1964, Blaubekin |
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| 1964, Made in the USA |
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| 1964, Warrior |
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| 1965, Made in USA |
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| 1965, Warrior (Made in USA Series) |
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| 1965, White Knight watcher |
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| 1966, Machine no. 2 |
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| 1966, Machine no. 5 |
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| 1967, Machine No 7 |
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| 1968, 8x4 |
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| 1968, Granny’s Knot |
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| 1969, Knot |
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| 1972, astronaut |
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| 1972, Tower of Babel |
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| 1974, Square knot |
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| 1975, Meeting point |
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| 1976, The Knot |
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| 1981, beeldhouwer Statue |
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| 1991, Connection |
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| 1991, Royal Knot |
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| 1995, Ronin |
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| 1996, Ronin |
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| 1997, Ronin |
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| 2004, Sentinel no.1 |
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| 2006, Sentinel no. 2 |
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| 2007, Koan Knot |
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| 2008, Ronin |
