By Taro Morikiyo,
A young researcher recently completed restoration work on one of "The Hiroshima Panels," a famous series of paintings by the late Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Iri and Toshi Maruki depicting the tragedy of war and the suffering caused by the use of nuclear weapons in World War II.
Haruka Saito, a 33-year-old researcher of cultural property preservation and part-time lecturer at the Aichi University of the Arts, completed an 18-month-long project to repair the first work in the series, which comprises two 1.8-meter-high, 3.6-meter-wide folding panels, to pass down to future generations.
The work is based on the couple's experiences of traveling to Hiroshima just days after it was struck by a U.S. atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945. The artists walked through the burnt-out wastelands of the city, becoming exposed to the bomb's residual radiation while gathering material for what became a 15-piece artwork series, released between 1950 and 1982.
Named "Ghosts," the restored painting depicts otherworldly humans wandering with their arms extended in front of them, their clothes incinerated and their skin badly burned.
The restored panel will be displayed at the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, from July 20, where the collection is preserved.
As the artwork had become moth-eaten and suffered significant deterioration over the years, the gallery had to pay several million yen in restoration costs.
The project served as "a catalyst that made me more aware of the atomic bombings," Saito said at the university's Institute for Conservation of Cultural Property in Nagakute, where she worked on restoring the painting until the end of May.
Saito says that when "Ghosts" arrived at the institute, she found herself overwhelmed more by its powerful realism than the macabre scene depicted in the work.
After receiving guidance from a senior member of the institute, Saito carefully applied glue onto paper to cover the joints of the panels for the final stage of the painting's restoration.
Born in Mihama, Aichi Prefecture, Saito studied Japanese painting at university and joined the institute in April 2015, beginning work on the restoration in December 2021.
"Ghosts" was "the scene that Mr. and Mrs. Maruki wanted to convey first," Saito said. "So I am honored to have played a role in (restoring) this work, which should be handed down to posterity."
The couple, who were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, began drawing what they witnessed in Hiroshima soon after arriving in the city, using the destruction left in the wake of the atomic bomb as inspiration for expressing and exploring themes of violence.
They are well known for not only depicting Japanese people as victims but also as participants in violent acts.
One of the works in the collection, named "The Death of American Prisoners of War," shows American POWs being treated with brutality after being exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb, while "Crows" illustrates the discriminatory treatment of Koreans living in Japan at the time.
Other artworks by the Marukis also explore war-related themes and subjects, such as the Nanjing Massacre, the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Battle of Okinawa.
Opinion has been divided among atomic bomb survivors over how they feel about "The Hiroshima Panels." Some have argued that the scenes depicted are not accurate representations of what their experience was really like, while others have praised them for their realism.
But the paintings, which were not censored during Japan's occupation by the Allied Powers in the aftermath of World War II, are widely regarded in Japan as among the first images that shaped people's perceptions of the atomic bombings.
The two artists sought to depict the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the panels. Toshi, who was an oil painter, created the figures, which were further enhanced by Iri, who painted in ink.
"Ghosts" was unveiled to the public in 1950, five years after the end of World War II, along with the second and third panels in the series, named "Fire" and "Water." The couple toured the world holding exhibitions of "Ghosts," which was reworked in the 1980s from a hanging scroll into the current folding panel format.
Saito's work on the painting is the first time one of The Hiroshima Panels has undergone a full-scale restoration, and involved reversing yellowing caused by aging, as well as undertaking repairs to the damaged panels.
The Maruki Gallery was eager to entrust the restoration to a university, as they believed it would increase the chances that the work would catch the eye of young scholars and students.
"The project was about passing the work on to future generations. We would like to leave restoration work on the remaining panels in the series to young people, too," said the gallery's 49-year-old curator Yukinori Okamura.
Before becoming involved in the project, most of Saito's knowledge about the atomic bombings came from school textbooks, as it wasn't a subject she had put a lot of thought into, she says.
After finishing the project, she said, "Now I can empathize with what the Marukis saw and felt about the 'atom bomb.' I hope I have passed on their spirit to future generations."
