Toshio Tokita - Artist Profile
Toshio Tokita (1926-2009)
Born in 1926 in Yotsukaido, Chiba Prefecture. As a boy, he devoted himself to Kendo and achieved the 2nd Dan rank. He majored in applied chemistry at Niigata University and after graduating, he worked for a company in Marunouchi. Around this time, he began painting as an apprentice under the master painter Sakuro Miyake.
Soon afterwards, Tokita established an architectural design company in Yotsukaido. From around this period, he started working on oil paintings in earnest, exhibiting his works at prefectural exhibitions and winning several prizes. In 1956, he won the Kofu Award at the 42nd Kofukai Exhibition. He received the Kofukai Alumni Award at the 45th Kofukai Exhibition in 1959.
In his later years, he frequently went on sketching trips to Kiso in Nagano Prefecture with artist Miyake, and painted many landscapes of mountains and villages. He had a large circle of friends, and was a loving husband to his wife and his daughters, who were the apple of his eye.