Japanese Bronze Signed Tsugami Sohei - Penguin

Tsugami Sohei (津上昌平, 1897-1977) was born in Itoshima County.

After graduating from local elementary and junior high schools, he entered the Yamaguchi Prefectural Oshima Merchant Marine School in 1914. While studying at the school, he was inspired by Western sculpture during a training trip to Europe. After graduating from school, he returned home and apprenticed to a Hakata doll maker for about a year. He then moved to Tokyo and studied under Ogura Uichiro that same year. He began exhibiting his work at the Teiten and other exhibitions, winning special prizes at the 11th Teiten in 1930 and the 12th Teiten in 1931. He also helped found the Chikuzen Art Association and the Fukuoka Prefectural Art Association, and exhibited his work there several times. Until the 1930s, he primarily produced nude statues, but later he produced many portraits.

This bronze is inscribed "南氷洋出漁十周年記念 大洋漁"業, which means "Tenth Anniversary of Southern Ocean Fisheries - Ocean Fisheries."  Between the 1940s and 1950s.