Collaborations with Architects

During World War II, Inokuma and members of Shinseisaku-ha Kyokai evacuated to Tsukui-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture (now Sagamihara City), where they formed close ties with admiring local residents. There were even plans to establish an artists’ village, and the architect Bunzo Yamaguchi, a close associate of Inokuma, is said to have completed its design. Around the same time, a proposal emerged for a new art museum in Inokuma’ s home prefecture of Kagawa. At his recommendation, Yamaguchi was appointed as the architect, and in 1949, former the Takamatsu Art Museum opened. That same year, Inokuma and Yamaguchi established an architecture section within Shinseisaku-ha Kyokai, with forward-looking architects Kunio Maekawa, Kenzo Tange, Yoshiro Taniguchi, Junzo Yoshimura, Kiyoshi Ikebe, and Tetsuro Okada becoming members. Shinseisaku-ha Kyokai embraced “design for living” as its guiding principle, and actively fostered collaboration among painters, sculptors, and architects. Inokuma himself contributed murals to architectural spaces, including works for Yoshiro Taniguchi’s Keio University Student Hall (1949) and Kenzo Tange’ s Kagawa Prefectural Government Office Building (1958).

Inokuma’ s collaborations with architects, which began in the architecture section of Shinseisaku-ha Kyokai, flourished in his home prefecture of Kagawa. The Kagawa Prefectural Government Office Building (now the East Building), completed in 1958 and designated as a National Important Cultural Property in 2022, was realized after Inokuma emphasized the importance of excellent architecture to then-Governor Masanori Kaneko and introduced him to the architect Kenzo Tange, a rising star at the time. The building became one of Tange’ s early masterworks, celebrated for its interpretation of traditional Japanese architecture in reinforced concrete, its open piloti and lobby, and its beautifully designed furniture. Inokuma made the ceramic wall piece Wa Kei Sei Jaku for the first-floor lobby, while Isamu Kenmochi, a member of the Shinseisaku-ha Kyokai architecture section, designed some of the furniture.

In 1987, as part of its 90th-anniversary celebrations, Marugame City approached Inokuma about establishing a museum in his honor. For the architectural design, Inokuma recommended Yoshio Taniguchi (1937-2024) to the city of Marugame, and the painter and the architect realized their shared ideals through extensive discussions. The result was a spacious venue bathed in natural light that embodied Inokuma’s vision of a “health resort for the spirit.” The architectural success of MIMOCA led to Yoshio Taniguchi’ s selection as the architect for a redesign of The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA), completed in 2004. MIMOCA continues to attract many visitors from Japan and abroad who come to experience its architecture.