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Accepted Paper:
The Hiroshima Panels, Italian Eaism, and Soka Gakkai’s Anti-Atomic-Weapon Aesthetics
Massimo Introvigne
(Center for Studies on New Religions)
Paper short abstract:
Iri and Toshiko Maruki painted between 1950 and 1982 in Japan the celebrated series of the fifteen Hiroshima Panels. The paper compares the Panels to the reaction to the atomic bombings in the Italian artistic movement Eaismo and the aesthetics of Soka Gakkai anti-nuclear-weapon campaigns.
Paper long abstract:
Iri Maruki (1901-1995) and his wife Toshiko (1912-2000) painted between 1950 and 1982 the celebrated series of the fifteen Hiroshima Panels, now on display in the Japanese city of Higashimatsuyama (except the fifteen, which is in Nagasaki). A masterpiece of modern Japanese art, the panels are a strong anti-nuclear-weapon statement. The paper compares their view of the atomic bomb and war with the one proposed after World War II by the Italian movement Eaism (Atomic-era-ism). In Italy, a country that had not suffered an atomic bombing, artists were both fascinated and scared by the new technologies. Eaism has been examined with interest by the Italian members of Soka Gakkai, whose anti-nuclear- weapon movement Senzatomica has been particularly successful. The paper examines the aesthetics of the Hiroshima Panel and some Eaist works and compares them with the Buddhist roots of the work and style of Senzatomica.