ISHIUCHI Miyako was announced as the winner of the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, hosted by the Hasselblad Foundation in Sweden, an international photography prize given to a photographer recognized for pioneering achievements. The award ceremony was held at the Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo on March 6. ISHIUCHI Miyako is the third Japanese winner, after HAYAMA Hiroshi in 1987 and SUGIMOTO Hiroshi in 2001. (Japanese)
On March 13, the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced the recipients of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for fiscal year 2013. In the Fine Arts category, artists OHTAKE Shinrō (for his exhibition ‘Shinro Ohtake: New New’) and FUKUDA Miran (for her exhibition ‘Miran Fukuda’) shared the prize. Manga artist MOROHOSHI Daijirō (for his manga ‘Princess Uriko’s Night, Cinderella’s Morning’) was awarded in the Media Arts category. The three recipients for the Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists for 2013 were photographer YONEDA Tomoko (for her exhibition ‘We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness’) in the Fine Arts category; architectural critic and historian IGARASHI Tarō (for his curated work ‘Aichi Triennale 2013: Awakening’) in the Development of the Arts category; and curator of Yokohama Taikan Memorial Hall, SATŌ Shino (for her monograph ‘“Mōrō” no jidai – Taikan, Shunsō ra to kindai nihonga no seiritsu’) in the Criticism category. (Japanese)
On March 18, the Council for Cultural Affairs (Commissioner: MIYATA Ryōhei) submitted a report on one asset to be designated as a National Treasures and 50 assets to be designated as Important Cultural Properties to SHIMOMURA Hakubun, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes a Jōmon dogū from the Late Jōmon period, called Masked Goddess (Kamen no megumi), which was unearthed from the Nakappara site in Chino City, Nagano Prefecture, to be designated as a National Treasure; and a pair of wooden statues of TOKUGAWA Ieyasu and his son Hidetada, which were housed in Chion-in temple (the head temple of the Jōdo sect of Buddhism), and Murakami Kagaku’s painting titled ‘Nude’(collection of the Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo) to be designated as Important Cultural Properties. (Japanese)