Nakagawa Mamoru

Nakagawa Mamoru (b. 1947) was designated a Living National Treasure for his outstanding mastery of zōgan (metal-inlay). Nakagawa has been a seminal figure in revitalizing metal-inlay as an important genre of decorative arts in Japan since its decline during the Meiji Restoration period. He has enlivened the traditionally monotone realm of metal-casting with an unprecedented palette of colors. Since the zōgan technique is said to have originated from Turkey, the artist has traveled there on numerous occasions, following the Silk Road, the cultural crossroads of eastern and western Asia. In 2008, he visited the United States on a cultural exchange fellowship under Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. While onthe fellowship in Washington, D.C., he taught a master class on the Kagazōgan technique at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. The same year, Nakagawa’s work was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the museum’s first contemporary Japanese metalwork.