Artisan | Woodworker: Murakami, Kenichi | 1929-

Biographical History:

A multi-award winner, Murakami-san was born in Yamagata City. Though his family were well-known wood craftsmen, Kenichi studied oil painting in the early 1940s, but began training and creating Sosaku Kokeshi by 1946. Since 1962, his dolls have received many top prizes including the coveted Prime Minister Award. In 1976, his dolls were exhibited in West Germany and the United States. Today, he operates several galleries in Yamagata Prefecture, including a gallery at the Ginza Matsuzakaya.

Collector's note – descriptive qualities, standard characteristics & ornamentation styles:

He primarily creates dolls with minimal decoration, with an emphasis on a variety of woodworking techniques. Kenichi loved to capture the innocence of a young child and prided himself on producing wonderful, textural pieces created by deep carving and horizontal cut lines to suggest and reinforce the subject. His dolls are seen painted, like illustrating the yukata, or left un-ornamented using simple lines to suggest the use of a snow coat, (Mino) during the winter season. Sumi’-e was often employed to capture the spirit of the subject.