Mitsuhashi Setsuko (1939-1975) loved the familiar trees, plants and flowers that surrounded her. In later life, her works were also inspired by the folk tales and local legends of Shiga. This year marks the 50th year of her death. To commemorate this occasion, Shiga Museum of Art is staging 50th Memorial Exhibition: Mitsuhashi Setsuko and the Landscapes of Shiga, an exhibition introducing our collection’s four Mitsuhashi Setsuko works alongside four sketchbooks belonging to the Otsu City Nagara Crafts Pavilion, Mitsuhashi Setsuko Museum of Art, and paintings by Noguchi Kenzo, Ibaraki Sanpu, Sugita Jozan and other artists that portray the landscapes of Shiga, where Setsuko lived and created.
　Setsuko was born in Osaka as the eldest daughter of Mitsuhashi Tokio and his wife Tama. Her father was a researcher of agricultural economics and agricultural history at Kyoto University (first as an assistant and later as a professor), with the family moving to Kyoto soon after Setsuko’s birth. The young Setsuko loved painting and she went on to study Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) at Kyoto City University of Fine Arts (now Kyoto City University of Arts). She studied under painters like Inohara Taika, Uemura Shoko, Okumura Koichi, Akino Fuku and Ishimoto Sho, and after graduating she took a post-graduate course in Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) at the same university. After completing this course, she worked tirelessly on her art and exhibited at Shinseisaku and other exhibitions.
　When she was 29, she married fellow painter Suzuki Yasumasa and they moved to Otsu City in Shiga Prefecture. They later had two children, a boy and a girl. However, at age 32, just as she was starting to achieve success as a painter, Setsuko was diagnosed with a serious illness and she had her dominant right arm amputated. Unbowed, Setsuko picked up the brush with her left hand and continued creating. During this difficult time, Setsuko chose to paint the legends and folk tales of Shiga, a subject much beloved by children too. These works received high acclaim, but on February 24, 1975, Setsuko passed away. She was only 35. Propelled by her love for nature and thoughts of her family, Setsuko continued painting in the short time she had left. We hope you enjoy the works she created as you stroll through these landscapes of Shiga.
　To finish, we would like to offer our deepest thanks to the Otsu City Nagara Crafts Pavilion, Mitsuhashi Setsuko Museum of Art and to Suzuki Yasumasa for helping to put this exhibition together.