art.wikisort.org - Artist

Tōru "Tohl" Narita (成田 亨, Narita Tōru, September 3, 1929 – February 26, 2002) was a Japanese visual artist who is best known for creating the characters and mechanics for the Ultra series of television programs: Ultra Q, Ultraman, and Ultraseven.

Tohl Narita
Tohl Narita at his drawing table
Born	September 3, 1929 Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
Died	February 26, 2002 (aged 72)
Nationality	Japanese
Known for	Design and special effects for television fantasy action shows, graphic arts
Website	tohlnarita.com

Early life

Narita was born on September 3, 1929, in Kobe City, Japan. His family moved to Aomori prefecture shortly after his birth.[1]

Career

Narita studied painting and sculpture at Musashino Art University. Afterward, they made part of his income doing special effects production work on the 1954 film Godzilla.[2] He then began working as a Tokusatsu (action film) artist for Toei starting in 1960. In 1965 he began working for Tsuburaya Visual Effects Productions.[1] In addition to working as a designer, Narita was also a sculptor, painter, and director of special effects. He is best noted for his work on the Ultra series, known in the vernacular as "Narita's Monsters". He went on to work in TV special effects for the shows, Totsugeki! Human!!, Enban Senso Bankid, and Mighty Jack. In 1968 he became a freelance artist and worked on films and movies including Kono ko wo nokoshite, The Bullet Train, Mahjong horoki, and Senso to ningen.[2][1]

He continued to create and exhibit his oil painting and sculptures throughout his life, including a public artwork, Demon Monument, located in Fukuchi City, Kyoto.[2] Narita's work was included in the Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture exhibition at the Japan Society in New York City. The exhibition featured his drawings "a favorite of otaku artists"; the series of drawings showed monsters transforming into buildings, stones and trees, and other inanimate objects.[3] His work was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Aomori Museum in 2015 that included 700 pieces of his work.[4] The show traveled to the Fukuoka Art Museum.[5]

A monograph was produced on his work, entitled “Narita Toru Illustration Works 成田亨作品集” (400 pages).[6] It is held in the Library of Congress.[7]

Collections

Narita's monster design prints are held in the permanent collection of the Aomori Prefectural Art Museum,[2] and the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art & Design.[8]

Death

Nartia died on February 26, 2002, at age 72, from multiple cerebral infarctions.[1]

References

External links

• Official website
• Tôru Narita at IMDb

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