By Tetsuharu Hanazaki, Senior Technical Engineer, mPLAT

Greco’s “Large Bather”
at the entrance of NRI’s Hiyoshi Data Center.

This week, we will be discussing the Emilio Greco sculpture “Large Bather”, which was on display at the entrance of NRI’s Hiyoshi Data Center.

Emilio Greco was an Italian sculptor, known as one of the foremost artists of Italy’s modern figurative sculpture movement.

As one of Greco’s representative works, “Large Bather” is regarded as a masterpiece among sculpted female figures. It is part of his Bather series of sculptures, another of which won the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the 1956 Venice Biennale.

Surprisingly, the model he used for “Large Bather” was actually a Japanese woman.
Her name was Kajiko Kawazoe, also known as “Tan tan”, and she was a student of Emilio Greco’s in Italy. She is best known for being the wife of the owner of “Chianti”, a legendary Italian restaurant located in Roppongi.

The Hiyoshi Data Center, where Greco’s “Large Bather” was on display, was completed for the 20th anniversary of the founding of Nomura Computer Systems.
It was touted as the creation of “the No.1 data center in the East”.

There is an interesting anecdote about the basic concept behind the Hiyoshi Data Center in former Managing Director Eiichi Kuroiwa’s “Introduction to Systems Consulting for SE”.

He writes, “Sculptures and paintings and such are used for decoration, so that not only our visitors but also people in our company really feel that this office is a wonderful place. In fact, we have a sculpture by Emilio Greco on display at the entrance, and it was hailed by the architect who was involved in the architectural review as ‘the only sculpture that’s perfect for this building’.”

An executive from a major pharmaceutical company reportedly saw Greco’s statue and asked, “Who made this?” Top-notch executives notice intentions of other executives.
This in an anecdote that speaks to the importance of the liberal arts.