Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
Shimura Fukumi
Bride, kimono 1923
silk
187.0 cm (centre back) 136.5 cm (cuff to cuff)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of the artist, 2025
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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Bride, kimono
1923
Medium
silk
Measurements
187.0 cm (centre back) 136.5 cm (cuff to cuff)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of the artist, 2025
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
Shimura Fukumi is a textile artist known for her technique of tsumugi weaving using plant-based dyes. She uses natural dyes extracted from wild plants and trees to dye silk threads taken from cocoons, creating beautiful colour combinations and hand-weaving these threads into kimono. With her unique philosophy of ‘receiving colours from plants’, she views plant-dyeing not just as a technique but also as an expression of the coexistence between nature and humans. Colours born from nature ‘are alive’, according to the artist, their texture deepening and changing over time. Shimura has been awarded multiple honours, including the Living National Treasure in 1990 and the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy in 2014.