Fusako Yusaki (湯崎夫沙子, b.
1937) is a Japanese clay animation pioneer.
Most of the early independent Japanese animators who came of age in the
1960s are men. Women animators in this
period were often behind the scenes working as inbetweeners and assistant
animators and rarely took a directorial credit.
Yusaki is the exception to this rule, but she made her name not in Japan
but in Italy. Her works range from the
abstract to narrative works – though many combine elements of both. Using a colourful palette of clay, her works
are defined by her use of metamorphosis.
Scenes flow seamlessly into one another in a very organic style.
Interview with Yusaki at the Ca' Foscari Short Film Festival this year:
Yusaki was born in the city of Moji-ku,
one of the five cities that merged to create the city of Kitakyūshū in Fukuoka
Prefecture in 1963. She graduated with a
degree in Fine Arts from Joshibi University of Art and Design in 1960. She then won a scholarship to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in
Milan in 1964 and has lived and worked in Milan ever since.
She established her own independent studio – Studio Yusaki (スタジオ・ユサキ) – and is famous for her commercials and for her children’s television programming in collaboration with public broadcasters such as RAI (Italy’s public broadcaster) and the NHK. Yusaki rose to fame in Italy in the 1960s for her popular series of clay animation advertisements for the liqueur Fernet-Branca (1968-1977), for which she won the Bagatto d’oro (the top prize for Italian commercials) in 1971.
In the 1990s and 2000s, she became
known for her sweet clay animation characters such as Peo (ペオ) the blue dog and the red and blue figures Naccio + Pomm (ナッチョとポム). Naccio + Pomm have
been released by the NHK in Japan as part of their Petit Petit Anime (プチプチ・アニメ) series for kids.
Among her many honours, Yusaki has
won a Bronze Lion from the Festival
international de la créativité - Lions Cannes (1972) and the award for lifetime
achievement from the Festival
Internazionale del Cinema d'Arte in Bergano (2004). She has been on the international juries at many
festivals including Annecy (1989), Hiroshima (1990), Zagreb (2000), Espinho
(2002), and Wissembourg (2003).
Yusaki continues to be very active on the animation scene, teaching workshops and participating in festivals as well as making films. She teaches three-dimensional
illustration at l’Istituto Europeo di
Design in Milan and her films are part of the collection of the Hara Museum of Contemporary
Art in Tokyo.
Filmography
Animated
Shorts – Claymation
1972
Pentalogia del mondo perduto
1973
Ballata dell’omino stanco
1974
Ominide
1975
Termituomo
1983
Ama gli animali
1984
Convergenza
1986
Rotondo quadrato triangolo
1988
Buongiorno
1991
Stagioni senza parola
1992
T.V.U.O.G.
1998 Un giorno sì, un giorno no
1998 Gioco di forme
2000 Gioco di numeri
2000 Gioco di colori
Animated
Series - Claymation
1989-90
Toki Doki – 13 x 2’
1992-4
Talpy – 60 x 1’
1997
Peo plastilina – 13 x 30”
1997-9
Peo in Svizzera, I parte – 13 x 2'
2000-2 Peo in Svizzera” II parte – 13 x
2'
2001-3 Naccio e Pomm – 13 x 5'
Educational
Film - Claymation
1984
Dipartimento Litosfera, 10 films
1986
Unità 2, film for videodisc
1987
La struttura interna del computer – animated inserts
1998
Ippocrate – RAI Educational
2000
Ecolabel, emas, rifiuti – 3 x 30”
Advertisements
– Claymation
1968-78
Fernet Branca – 56 ads
1976
Marcolin
1977
Zurigo Assicurazioni
1978
Ariston
1978
TVS sigla TV
1980 Telenova sigla TV
1981
A.I.E.D. – 6 ads
1982
SAIWA
1982 A.I.E.D.
1983
Rete A sigla TV
1984 Rocher Ferrero
1984 Bi-Bici
1985 Mobilsol
1985 Denise
1986
Ars Nova
1987
Asgow
1991
Valle d’Aosta
1991 3 x 2
1992
Pubblicità Progresso – 5 films
1994 Volta pagina
1995 Peo (sigla)
1999 Glu-Glu (sigla)
2001 Albero Azzurro (sigla)
2001
Intermezzo per pubblicità
2001
Colazione con Peo
Animated
Shorts - Cel animation
1985
L’incredibile Usil
For more information:
“Fusako
Yusaki / Documentazione,” arskey:
magazine d’arte moderna e contemporanea
2015 Catherine Munroe Hotes
