Japanese cinema panel painter: Star Power in acrylic

In the golden age of cinema, there were cinemas in almost every small town in Japan. Attendance figures peaked in 1958 at 1.1 billion, when the country had over 7,000 theaters. However, since the rise of television in the 1960s, admissions have steadily declined, as have the number of theaters. Japan’s first multiplex opened in Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 1993, leading a trend that has driven many small theaters to extinction. The rise of the multiplex meant that in 2016 there were 3,472 screens nationwide, but only 427 of them belonged to ordinary picture houses. And as local cinemas disappeared from regional Japanese cities, their hand-painted signs, which were once a daily spectacle, have also disappeared.

Learning on an American basis

Before multiplexes, many theaters had their own dedicated sign painters. ÅŒshita Takeo was one of them. Born in Aomori Prefecture in 1942, he started at the age of 16 producing panels for the theater at the US Air Base in Misawa. This meant that he often worked on Hollywood films.

“New American films were screened at the base theater in Misawa before their general release. The soldiers took their families to see them. At first, when older painters went to drink in the izakaya, I used to draw the stars on paper by studying their photos in Sukurīn [the movie magazine Screen]. Then I would wait for the others to come back and fix them for me.

One of the first signs of ÅŒshita at the Misawa Base Theater was for the John Wayne movie North of Alaska, which opened in Japan in 1961. (Photograph provided by ÅŒshita Takeo)

From the start, accurately reproducing faces was important to ÅŒshita. He had always loved painting, and during his freshman year in college, he stunned his art teacher with a picture of a clenched fist. The teacher gave him a sheet of drawing paper every day and made sure that he did not run out of materials. “Whenever I had a spare moment, I painted. But I made a fool of myself when I was asked to do a watercolor portrait of the school’s arts festival director and it was a terrible resemblance.

He started working after leaving college. “Dad died in the war and the family had no money. He says he really wanted to be a baseball player. At 19, a connection landed him a job in Mito as a sign painter for the Mito Tōei cinema. “It was the only theater run directly by [major film corporation] Tōei in Ibaraki Prefecture. It was a time when being an exclusive contract sign painter meant you knew you would never starve.

Work until the wee hours

In Tōei, he almost daily painted panels for yakuza films with stars like Takakura Ken and Tsuruta Kōji. “When Takakura Ken was growing up, there were 1,700 spectators crammed into a theater that was only supposed to seat 650, including standing places. Some people didn’t leave even after seeing the movie once, which caused a big uproar. I loved Takakura myself and was totally engrossed in painting. His face was distinctive, so it was easy to do. But that sad look was what put him above all standard stars. “

Between works for Tōei, other theaters asked ÅŒshita to paint only the actors’ faces for their own signs. He seemed to have gained a reputation for exceptional skills in reproducing faces and conveying their individual atmosphere. At 26, he became independent. During the 1980s he painted panels for the 11 theaters in Mito.

Ōshita stands in front of a favorite photo of Takakura Ken in the movie Shōwa zankyōden (Brutal Tales of Chivalry).

Each time, he placed a checkered grid on the movie poster to transfer the images to an enlarged grid on the panel. He copied the drawing onto each square in pencil before adding color with acrylic paint. The standard panels were 2.4 meters high and 5.4 meters long, but some panels were of different sizes. This meant he couldn’t reproduce the poster exactly as it was. It also took experience to do a good job of adding layers of color with quick-drying paint. “Each panel took about a day and a half to complete. When I had been doing this for a while, the right layout jumped to my head instantly.

“In my prime, I worked with my wife every day until two or three in the morning. After getting married at the age of 30 to Mitsue, who is three years younger, the couple tackled teamwork.

“My task was to glue the initial drawing paper to the panel. I would do it with a baby strapped to my back, ”Mitsue recalls. “Back then, Japanese films changed every three days. They hung up the new signs the day before the opening. I was there in the truck too as we drove through all the theaters at night with a mountain of new panels stacked in the back. The work was not just painting. You had to put the panels in and take them down as well. “

The walls of ÅŒshita’s studio are lined with photographs of her signs.

ÅŒshita spent all day painting panels, but he always says, “I was only satisfied with about one or two of them every year. Too often I would paint a big X on my work and start over. But I never missed a deadline. Years later, he used a projector to display the outlines of the design, which made it easier, but this technique didn’t work with extra-large posters.

With quick-drying acrylic paint, the first 15 minutes of painting a face is crucial. (Photo provided by ÅŒshita Takeo)

ÅŒshita shows his skill in quickly producing the colors he wants with layers of paint.

Portraits in ÅŒshita’s studio.

Audrey Hepburn and Kirk Douglas

In the 2000s, Mito cinemas closed one by one in competition with incoming multiplexes. After the closure of Mito Tōei in 2006 and the Mito Theater Seiyū mini-theater followed in 2008, there was no longer regular sign painting work.

The production of signs for events became the biggest part of ÅŒshita’s job. However, some 20 years earlier, he had started painting portraits of stars in his spare time. The more than 100 portraits created to date bring together a parade of Japanese and international actors past and present, from Takakura Ken, Ishihara YÅ«jirō and Atsumi Kiyoshi to Audrey Hepburn, Alain Delon, Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp.

Audrey Hepburn in roman holidays (left) and My beautiful lady.

“I put the most effort into getting the right likeness and creating a soft, soft look.” He says he’s happiest when he gets the right coat of paint so the skin color is the same as the image he’s working from. He is a fan of Audrey Hepburn and has seen roman holidays almost 10 times, including on video. Unfortunately, he never had the chance to do a sign for any of her films, but he painted several portraits of her. He also loves Kirk Douglas. He appreciates Shooting at OK Corral in particular, in which Douglas played Western legend Doc Holliday, and he previously painted a sign for the film.

Some of ÅŒshita’s movie star portraits are displayed on the walls outside Yokohama’s Cinema Novecento, a small movie theater with only 28 seats that shows mostly classic movies.

Cameron Diaz and Alain Delon.

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Wipe away tears

An exhibition in a Mito museum from May to July presented ÅŒshita’s star portraits, made over two decades, to a new audience. About fifty photos were exhibited.

Curator ÅŒsone Makiko explained why she chose to organize an exhibition of her works. “When I was a student, I often went to the movies here in Mito and regularly saw ÅŒshita’s signs. But people in their twenties today have never seen hand-painted signs. I thought it was a real shame to let this culture fade away, and I wanted to show it to young people.

The Ōshita Signs Exhibition was held at the Jōyō Museum in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, from May 30 to July 16.

Nevertheless, the most moved visitors are the elderly who gaze at the striking portraits of the stars of their youth. Some women wiped away tears with their handkerchiefs as they stood in front of a photo of idol Ishihara Yūjirō, who died 30 years ago in July.

When ÅŒshita was most active, crowds of commuters walked past his signs outside Mito Tōei morning and evening. “If you painted an oil painting, there wouldn’t be so many people seeing it every day. I was happy that a lot of people saw my work and it motivated me to keep doing my best.

Ōshita now rarely paints cinema signs. The last big project he worked on was for the 2010 period drama Sakuradamon-gai no hen (Sakurada Gate Incident), which was filmed on an open set in Mito. He has had heart problems for the past few years and is not in optimal condition. Yet he says his hand always moves when he sleeps at night. “He wants to continue painting. There were so many long days I was rushing to complete a panel before the deadline.

“The people from Mito Tōei told me that they wanted me to always paint their signs, and I did that for many years, but then it closed. It’s sad, but I feel that I have fulfilled my responsibility. Saying this, ÅŒshita gives a soft smile.

(Originally written in Japanese by Itakura Kimie of Nippon.com. Photos by Ōkubo Keizō, unless otherwise noted. Banner photo: Ōshita speaks at a sign for Shin jingi naki tatakai (New battles without honor and humanity) with Sugawara Bunta.)

Portraits of movie stars by ÅŒshita Takeo

[output_slideshow image_id=b02102]