YOSHIDA Masanami

1936-2011, born in Hiroshima Prefecture
Yoshida graduated from Hiroshima University, where he majored in fine arts. He became involved with the art association Shinseisaku Kyokai after attending a summer art workshop held in Hiroshima, was first selected for exhibition in 1963, and continued to exhibit with the association through his later years. He became a full member of Shinseisaku Kyokai in 1978. In 1967, he became an assistant in the Department of Fine Arts at Hijiyama Women’s Junior College, and there he met the artist Akutagawa Hisashi, who would become his admired lifelong mentor. He continued teaching at the college, later renamed Hijiyama University Junior College, until 2007. Active in promoting sculpture in the region, he created many well-known outdoor works and monuments, including For the Spirits of the Departed (1980, Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine), Monument to World Record Breaker Kinugasa Sachio (1987, Shori no Mori Park, in front of the former Hiroshima Municipal Stadium), and Mother (1992, Fukuromachi District Atomic Bomb Victims Memorial, Fukuromachi Park).