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Etsuro Sotoo - Wikipedia

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Etsuro Sotoo
外尾悦郎
Sotoo in 2010
Born	Etsurō Sotoo 1953 (age 70–71) Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
Education	Kyoto University (BA)
Known for	Sagrada Família sculptures
Movement	Modernisme
Awards	Ratzinger Prize (2024) International Gold Medal Award for Merit in Catholic Culture [it] (2011)

Etsurō Sotoo (Japanese: 外尾悦郎; born c. 1953 in Fukuoka Prefecture)^[1]^[2] is a Japanese sculptor strongly influenced by Antoni Gaudí. His interest in Gaudí led him to convert to the Catholic Church.^[3] His most noted work are sculptures located in the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. He is nicknamed the "Japanese Gaudí" in his native Japan.^[4]

Biography

In 1978 Etsuro Sotoo visited Barcelona and was impressed by the Sagrada Família.^[6] He worked as a stonecutter and has been working since then on sculptures for the building, following the instructions left by Antoni Gaudí. At first he worked on the Nativity Façade. Among other figures there were sculptures of angels, musicians and singers, children, as well as the fruit baskets crowning the pinnacles of the temple.

He has also designed the doors installed on the Nativity Façade (inaugurated in December 2015 after many years of work), made of bronze^[7] and glass, decorated with plants, insects and small animals. He has made four gargoyles to be installed in the towers of the Evangelists, currently under construction. In addition, Sotoo was commissioned to restore the sculptures of the Porta del Rosari, damaged in the Spanish Civil War. He also worked on the design of tubular bells installed in Gaudí thought bell towers of the three facades of the Sagrada Família.

He is also author of a monument commemorating the 150th anniversary of the signature Louis Vuitton in Barbera del Valles (2004) and Memorial Angel Lace (2003) in Arenys de Munt and sculpture of Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer (2004) in the Montalegre church for Barcelona.

In Japan, author of Birth (1985) and The Old Man and the Girl (1988) in the Art Museum Chohachi Matsuzaki and sculptures Pineapples (1993) at the Stadium of Fukuoka and Five Elements (1997) at the Institute of Fukuoka monument of 1500 m² dedicated to water, the wind, the sky, fire and earth. Sotoo was a visiting professor of Kyushu University User Science Institute, School of Engineering Main Building and ambassador of Kesennuma, Rias Sanriku (Japan). He was also vice president of the Nipon Center of Canet de Mar.

At the age of 37, Sotoo converted to Catholicism in honor of his admiration and study of Gaudí's work, baptizing himself with the name Luca Michelangelo (Catalan: Luca Miquel Àngel).^[8] In 2015, he created the pulpit of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.^[9] Sotoo was awarded the Ratzinger Prize in 2024, alongside Irish theologian Cyril O'Regan.^[10]^[6]

References

^ "ULAN Full Record Display | Etsuro Sotoo". Union List of Artist Names. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
^ Sakurai, Joji (1 April 2017). "Etsuro Sotoo: Master sculptor in Spain found calling in a pile of rocks". The Japan Times. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
^ Marshall, Colin (24 August 2020). "The Japanese Sculptor Who Dedicated His Life to Finishing Gaudí's Magnum Opus, the Sagrada Família". Open Culture. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
^ "Etsuro Sotoo | Former Chief Sculptor at the Sagrada Familia". Gaudí World Foundation. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
^ Sendra, Enric (17 July 2014). "First door of the Nativity Façade of the Sagrada Família has now been fitted". Catalan News Agency. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
^ ^a ^b Kyodo (23 November 2024). "Sotoo becomes 1st Japanese, sculptor to win famed Vatican prize". The Mainichi. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
^ Curti, Chiara (1 June 2016). "Las puertas de la Fachada de la Natividad de la Sagrada Familia, obra de Etsuro Sotoo" [The doors of the Nativity Façade of the Sagrada Familia, the work of Etsuro Sotoo] (in Spanish). Es Japón. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ van Hensbergen 2017, p. 247.
^ Editorial Staff (1 November 2015). "Firenze cardinale Betori inaugura nuovo ambone in Cattedrale" [Florence cardinal Betori inaugurates new pulpit in Cathedral]. Toscanna Oggi (in Italian). Retrieved 18 December 2024.
^ Martínez-Bordiú, Almudena (20 September 2024). "Japanese sculptor, Notre Dame's O'Regan to receive prestigious Ratzinger Prize". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 18 December 2024.

Works cited

Sotoo, Etsuro (15 November 2010). La Libertad Vertical: Conversaciones Sobre La Sagrada Família [Vertical Freedom: Conversations on the Sagrada Família] (in Spanish). Ediciones Encuentro, S.A. ISBN 978-84-9920-062-0. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
van Hensbergen, Gijs (18 May 2017). The Sagrada Familia: Gaudí's Heaven on Earth. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-84-01-34713-9. Retrieved 18 December 2024.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Etsuro Sotoo.

Official website
How Etsuro Sotoo discovered Gaudi, nature and God at the Sagrada Família, Interview by Willem de Klerk
Etsuro Sotoo recuperarà l'escultura de Gaudí que havia de coronar La Pedrera lit. 'Etsuro Sotoo will rebuild the Gaudi's Pedrera main esculpture' (in Italian), Art Neutre, 10 June 2013

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