By Peter Masheter,
The first completed restoration among the "Hiroshima Panels" series of paintings that depict the horrors of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II was unveiled to the media on Wednesday at a gallery dedicated to the powerful artworks.
The piece "Ghosts" is one of 15 works in the series by the late Nobel Peace Prize-nominated artists Iri and Toshi Maruki. It features a procession of otherworldly figures, many with charred and blackened skin, in the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.
The work's return to the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, comes after about 18 months of restoration work at the Institute for Conservation of Cultural Property at the Aichi University of the Arts in central Japan.
Speaking after the finished piece was returned to its place, replacing a replica, in the space that displays all the panels in its collection, the gallery's Curator and Managing Director Yukinori Okamura said that he was "very happy that the original version I am so familiar with has finally returned."
"While there are no dramatic changes in a restoration, I hope visitors can see the work as they have before," he said.
Akiko Isogai, the researcher at the institute who headed the team of seven people behind the restoration, said she first and foremost felt "relief" that the work had returned safely and could be appreciated by the public again.
The piece, measuring 1.8 meters in height and 7.2 m in length, will be shown to visitors from Thursday.
The panels came about after the Marukis spent around a month in Iri's hometown Hiroshima in the immediate aftermath of the atomic attack. What they heard and witnessed inspired the pieces' creation, which began around three years after they left the city.
The first three panels debuted in 1950 and toured the country, offering people in Japan a visual representation of the atomic bombings at a time when the U.S.-led occupying forces censored information about the aftermath.
Of the Hiroshima Panels series released across 32 years from 1950 to 1982, 14 are in the permanent collection at the gallery devoted to the Marukis' work, which opened in 1967. The 15th piece, "Nagasaki," is displayed at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.
The works have, however, been deteriorating in the gallery's aging facilities, with ultraviolet exposure, insects, dust and temperature issues threatening their long-term future. To restore the artworks and renovate the building, the gallery began preservation fundraising in 2017, the 50th anniversary of its opening.
As of Dec. 15, 2022, the private gallery has raised donations of around 270 million yen ($1.94 million) for its preservation fund for the panels.
But while the gallery has been raising funds, at the present pace of 18 months for restoring each artwork, it would take decades for the work on all 14 pieces to complete.
Acknowledging the challenges ahead, Okamura said he takes a long-term view of the project. "One of the reasons I approached the preservation institute was they would be able to learn how to restore the works and pass on that knowledge even if the people involved change."
"If we can make a system now to keep it going, I'm sure we can restore all of the works over time," he said.
On the same day that "Ghosts" was unveiled, the second of the panels, "Fire," was checked and sent off to the conservation institute. It depicts in vivid reds and blacks the victims caught in the firestorm caused by the extreme heat from the Hiroshima bombing.
The restoration of the piece, which showed signs of warping to the panels and multiple holes made by insects, is expected to take about as long as that of "Ghosts" and lead to its return in 2025.
According to Isogai, the challenges will include a careful analysis of the pigments used, a precaution that has to be taken due to the Marukis' differing specializations as artists. While Iri specialized in Japanese suibokuga ink wash painting, Toshi was an oil painter.
"This is a work conceived not purely as Nihonga Japanese painting but by a couple who created together with differing styles, so what kind of pigments they used is something we have to analyze," she said.
