36°19′44″N139°21′08″E / 36.3288°N 139.3521°E /36.3288; 139.3521
The Hiroshima Panels (原爆の図,Genbaku no zu) are a series of fifteen painted folding panels by the collaborative husband and wife artistsToshi Maruki and Iri Maruki completed over a span of thirty-two years (1950–1982).[1] ThePanels depict the consequences of theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as other nuclear disasters of the 20th century. Each panel stands 1.8 metres x 7.2 metres.[2]
The paintings depict people wrenched by the violence and chaos of the atomic bombing; some wandering aimlessly, their bodies charred, while others are still being consumed by atomic fire. Dying lovers embrace and mothers cradling their dead children. Each painting portrays the inhumanity, brutality, and hopelessness of war, and the cruelty of bombingcivilians.[2] The people depicted in the paintings are not onlyJapanese citizens but alsoKorean residents andAmericanPOWs who suffered or died in the atomic bombings as well. During the occupation of Japan by the Allied powers, when reporting on the atomic bombing was strictly prohibited, the panels played a crucial role in making known the hidden nuclear suffering through a nationwide tour.[3]
The Marukis tried to represent all those affected so as to make their cause an international one and, above that, one of universal importance to all human beings. The use of traditional Japanese black and white ink drawings,sumi-e, contrasted with the red of atomic fire produce an effect that is strikinglyanti-war andanti-nuclear.[4]
The panels also depict the accident of theDaigo Fukuryu Maru on theBikini Atoll in 1954 which the Marukis believed showed the threat of a nuclear bomb even during peace time.
Short prose-like poems written by the artists to further explain the subject of their visual work also accompany each painting.
In 1967, the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels, was established inHigashi-Matsuyama,Saitama,Japan, as a permanent home forThe Hiroshima Panels. The fifteenth panel,Nagasaki, is on permanent display at the Nagasaki International Cultural Hall. Also available for view at the Maruki Gallery are the Marukis' further collaborative paintings onAuschwitz, theNanking massacre, thebattle of Okinawa,Minamata, and their summary collaborative painting entitledHell.
It was for these monumental works, along with their continued peace education efforts that the Marukis received a nomination for theNobel Peace Prize in 1995.
The Hiroshima Panels have also been the subject of the 1987Academy Award nominated documentaryHellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima.
The Japanese composerMasao Ohki composed in 1953 his 5th Symphony. The first six panels that had been painted at the time were turned into six movements.[citation needed] British poetJames Kirkup's poemGhosts, Fire, Water, published in the anthologyNo more Hiroshimas, is based on the first three panels. The poem was set to music byNew Zealand composer Douglas Mews.[5]
The US-American artist Arthur Binard wrote a Japanesekamishibai storysmall voices (ちっちゃいこえ) from 2012 to 2019 based on the panels and told from the viewpoint of a cat.[6][7][8][9][10][11]
