Sculptor Seiichi Totani Passes Away at Age 78
Summary
Sculptor Seiichi Totani, born in 1947 in Ogawa Village, Nagano Prefecture, died on April 15, 2026, at a Tokyo hospital from pneumonia at the age of 78. He graduated from the graduate program in sculpture at Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts and, since the 1970s, explored the reconstruction of dismantled sculptures within post‑minimalist and Mono‑ha movements, seeking principles and structures that relate to human existence. He received the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Art Promotion Award in 2004, the Order of the Purple Ribbon in 2009, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Small‑Class Medal in 2025, and served as an honorary professor in the sculpture department of Musashino Art University. Recent exhibitions include “Seiichi Totani Sculpture” at the Nagano Prefectural Museum of Art (2022‑23) and Saitama Museum of Modern Art (2023), among others, and his publications include “Seiichi Totani Sculpture and Words 1974‑2013” and “Seiichi Totani – Emerging Sculpture.”
(Source：美術手帖)