Gorō Tsuruta

Gorō Tsuruta (鶴田 吾郎, Tsuruta Gorō, July 8, 1890 – January 1, 1969) was a Japanese painter of the yōga (or Western-style) movement and a member of the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition.

Biography

Tsuruta was born in Tokyo. After dropping out of Waseda University, he studied under Hakuyō Kurata and Fusetsu Nakamura. He was a member of the artists' circles Hakubakai, Taiheiyō Bijutsu, and Shigenki.

Between 1913 and 1920, Tsuruta lived in Korea and Manchuria. His Portrait of the Blind Eroshenko (盲目のエロシェンコ像, Mōmoku no eroshenko zō) was selected for the 2nd Imperial Academy Art Exhibition.

In 1942, during the Pacific theater of World War II, Tsuruta commemorated the active role of airborne Army and Naval units and the celebrated aerial attack on Palembang by Army paratroopers in his war scene Divine Soldiers Descend on Palembang (神兵パレンバンに降下す, Shinpei parenban ni koukasu).

Tsuruta served as a judge at the Bunten Exhibition, and established the Japan Mountain Forest Fine Arts Association (日本山林美術協会, Nihon kinrin bijutsu kyōkai).

Books

• "Sobyō no tabi" (素描の旅), Mokuseisha Shoin, 1931
• "Saishūtō no shizen to fūbutsu" (済州島の自然と風物), Chūō Chōsen Kyōkai, 1935
• "Hanseiki no sobyō" (半世紀の素描), Chūō Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan, 1982