Original article by Itsuhiro Suzuki

The Shigeru Komatsuzaki Online Museum has opened , which digitizes the original drawings of Shigeru Komatsuzaki (1915-2001), an illustrator who lived in Kashiwa City , Chiba Prefecture , and makes them available online. Approximately 150 works are available for viewing for free, and if you become a paid support member, you can also view works that change every month.

Komatsuzaki’s works total approximately 20,000 pieces, including magazine illustrations. In addition to her representative works, such as paintings on plastic model boxes and frontispieces for boys’ magazines , she also includes landscape paintings , drawings, and oil paintings. In addition to “ Battleship Yamato ,” which was published in Weekly Shonen Sunday and became a masterpiece, “ Space Colony II” , which became a masterpiece of fantasy painting , and “ Sensoji Niomon ” , which has strong realistic elements, are available for free (some charges apply). It has been published.

After Shigeru’s death, his grandson Noriko Komatsuzaki (43) took over many of his works and later became the official copyright heir. Exhibitions were held all over the country, but opportunities to show to the public have drastically decreased due to the coronavirus pandemic. Noriko felt a sense of crisis, saying, “If we don’t do something, Komatsuzaki’s works will be forgotten along with her era,” and so she and her husband, Minoru (44), have been making preparations to open an online art museum. Ta.

Minoru said, “Based on the support we received through the online art museum, we will collect and maintain the original paintings that have been lost, and hold exhibitions, so that a wide range of people can see Shigeru Komatsuzaki’s works.”

Link of the Shigeru Komatsuzaki Online Museum https://shigerukomatsuzaki.com

Source of the article in Japanese language: Asahi Shimbun