Tamako Kataoka, a traditional painter who was awarded the Order of Culture, died last Wednesday of acute heart failure at a hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture, her family said Monday. She was 103.
A native of Sapporo, Kataoka was well-known for her Tsuragamae series of paintings, started in 1966, of important Japanese historical figures such as generals from the Sengoku civil war era, ukiyo-e woodblock print artists and priests. Her style, characterized by bold, elegant coloring and strokes, helped her establish a prominent position in the painting world.
Other distinguished works by Kataoka include a series illustrating Mount Fuji and a series of drawings of women in the nude.
A poster of Kataoka's September 2005 Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki to mark her Centenary YearAfter graduating in 1926 from what is now the Joshibi University of Art and Design, Kataoka continued to study painting while also working as an elementary school teacher in Yokohama.
She was first accepted for an exhibition organized by the Nihon Bijyutsuin in 1930 and became part of a coterie of the institute in 1952 at age 47.
She became a member of the Japan Art Academy in 1982 and received the Order of Culture in 1989.
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