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The Hiroshima Panels, painted by Iri Maruki (1901 – 1995) and Toshi Maruki (also known as Toshiko Akamatsu, 1912 – 2000) between 1950 and 1982, are a series of 15 large-scale paintings. The paintings are widely known to be representative of the theme of nuclear destruction.
Immediately after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on the 6th of August in 1945, Iri and Toshi returned to Hiroshima known to be Iri’s hometown and witnessed the aftermath. 3 years after of the end of the war, they decided to draw the victims of the atomic bombings. The first panel was exhibited at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in February 1950. The completion of the initial trilogy was in the same year and that marked the start of a national touring exhibition. It was held by a grassroots movement and travelled to 170 locations from Hokkaido to Kyushu, attracting an estimated 1.7 million visitors between 1950 and 1953. The Hiroshima Panels became an apparatus in conveying the tragic events and shared the memory among the victims, especially during a time where the media towards the atomic bombings were censored under the occupation of Japan. With the end of the occupation in 1952, the panels gradually took on a new political and social role in the peace movement of the 1950s, appealing to the world for a ban on atomic and hydrogen bombs.
After the success of the national touring exhibition in Japan, the panels received the World Peace Award by the World Peace Council in 1953 as they made a significant contribution to the Stockholm Appeal. In June of the same year, Toshi attended the World Congress of Women in Copenhagen as the Vice President of the Japanese delegation and travelled to Denmark, Hungary, the Soviet Union, China and Romania. She brought the first three panels (Ghosts, Fire, Water), twenty drawings, a comic book Pikadon and a film The Hiroshima Panels. These were entrusted to Danish peace activists. The international touring exhibition was held in European countries after her return. In 1956, a committee was set up for the international exhibition, coinciding with the completion of the 10 panels. The international touring exhibition was held in twenty countries until 1964. It was thought to be supported by the Japanese and International Communist Parties and the international peace committees. The first travelling exhibition in the United States was in 1970.
The international touring exhibition in the 1950s and 1960s was said to have a great impact in the both of the East and West countries during the international peace movements against atomic and hydrogen bombs. However, the details are not available and accessible. This project aims to investigate into the forgotten history of the paintings and examine how the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was recognised by the international communities, and how the paintings related to and played a role in cultural and political movements during the Cold War.
References
Kozawa, Setsuko. Genbaku no Zu Egakareta Kioku, Katarareta Kaiga. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2002.
Maruki, Iri. Ruruhenreki. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1988.
Maruki, Toshiko. Seiseiruten. Tokyo: Jitsugyo no Nihonsha, 1958.
Maruki, Toshi. Yurei: Genbaku no Zu Sekai Junrei. Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 1972.
Okamura, Yukinori. Genbaku no Zu Senryoka 100 mannin ga mita!. Tokyo: Shinjuku Shobō, 2015.
Okamura, Yukinori. The Hiroshima Panels Visualize Violence: Imagination over Life, Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament Volume. 2. Nagasaki: The Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University (RECNA), 2019.