Click to enlargeGUTAI and Jiro Yoshihara (1905-1972)
GUTAI Artist-Founder
Centennials/TRIBUTES 1913-2013
BOOK HUGGERS MAY 2013 SELECTION
ECOARTNET/ECOARTPEDIA

GUTAI is considered one of the most important avant-garde art movements of the latter half of the 20th century and occupies an established place in postwar art history. GUTAI was formed in 1954 by Jiro Yoshihara and a group of artists who had assembled around him.

Jiro Yoshihara is considered the artist who created the richest body of painting in Japanese art of the 20th century and is well-known for the 'circle' paintings of his later years. In 2005 the Gutai Art Association honored him with a Centenary Retrospective to mark his 100th anniversary birthday at:

The Osaka City Museum of Modern Art (October 29 - November 27, 2005)
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (December 15, 2005 - February 26, 2006)
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (June 13 - July 30, 2006)
The Miyagi Museum of Art (August 6 - October 9, 2006)

The Centenary Retrospective covers:

Early Works: Landscapes Beside and Outside the Window: 1923-1932

Metaphysical Images and Pure Abstraction:1930-1940

Wartime Paintings: Two Landscapes: 1940-1945

Birds and People, and Linear Abstractions:1946-1954

The Birth of GUTAI: Toward Art Informel: 1954-1962

"Circles" and Afterward: 1963-1972

"To understand the circles and see how Yoshihara's work developed in subsequent years, one must remember the artist's links with Japanese calligraphy." Shinichiro Osaki/1992

Excerpt from the Retrospective Catalogue("The Gutai Art Manifesto")...

"What was Yoshihara trying to indicate with the circles? The circle, a fundamental sign that is both global and abstract, should be seen as a new image in painting which, along with the Western style of action-painting, gives the viewer a sense of physical movement, and is related to the traces and expressions that are found in the brushwork of eastern calligraphy. Also, as suggested in "The Gutai Art Manifesto," Yoshihara maintained a philosophical and practical stance of aggressively linking the diametrically opposed elements of material and the human spirit. On the one hand, owing to his abstract nature, the circle is an image that genuinely approaches the spirit. On the other, by viewing paint as a material, the circle facilitates a contradictory state in which the traces of physicality and individuality compete with each other, and the circle adds a spiritual depth that Westerners might consider "Zenlike." "ZERO" projects translate the enso, or circle, from ZEN painting into a minimalist object signifying "ZERO".

"We are following the path that will lead to an international common ground where the arts of the East and the West influence each other and this is the natural course of the history of art" Jori Yoshihara

ABOUT GUTAI: literally means "concreteness"

In 1954, with a group of young artists, Jiro Yoshihara formed the GUTAI Art Association. For the next 18 years, until Yoshihana's death in 1972 the group remained active internationally, publishing the official magazine GUTAI, organizing 21 Gutai art Exhibitions, and opening its own headquarters and museum, the Gutai Pinacotheca.

As a leader, Yoshihana repeatedly advised the group members, "Don't copy anyone! Do something no one's ever done before!" And as he said, beginning with the first group exhibition ("The Experimental Outdoor Exhibition of Modern Art to Challenge the Midsummer Burning Sun"), the Gutai Art Exhibitions, and the "Gutai Art Using the Stage" events, the artists presented numerous innovative works without precedent...Artist Kazuo Shiraga's battle with mud outside and Saburo Murakami's break through sheets of paper stretched across wooden frames, which gave rise to performance-type art that made use of a space and violent physical actions. These forms of expression also introduced materials such as mud, logs and vinyl, to create vivid works...The concept of linking material with creativity was the underlying principle of Gutai: participatory environments taking the form of organic or geometric abstract sculptures incorporating kinetic light, and sound art, turning exhibition spaces into chaotic machine-like organisms; environments drawing from contemporary architecture, technology, and urban design to promote futuristic, space-age aesthetic.

RELATED LINKS:



ECOART  CALENDAR
BOOK HUGGERS MAY 2013 SELECTION
Processed Art/Ecoartpedia 2016/Ecologicalart REVIEW 2016
ECOART CALENDAR

BOOK HUGGERS MAY 2013 SELECTION

Processed Art/Ecoartpedia 2016/Ecologicalart REVIEW 2016

Abstract  Art SHOW ECOARTPEDIA 2012-2013
INTIMATE LIBRARIES Possibilities of Notes/Ecoartpedia
ECOLOGICAL ART REVIEW/STATEMENTS 2013
Abstract Art SHOW ECOARTPEDIA 2012-2013

INTIMATE LIBRARIES Possibilities of Notes/Ecoartpedia

ECOLOGICAL ART REVIEW/STATEMENTS 2013

BOOK HUGGERS SELECTIONS
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Tributes  1913-2013
BOOK HUGGERS SELECTIONS

Gutai: Splendid Playground at GUGGENHEIM Museum/February 15-May 8, 2013

Tributes 1913-2013

ECOARTPEDIA 2012/2013/2014 Exhibition/A Century in Search of the Artist SHOW
Complexity Art/Ecological Art REVIEW SUMMER 2013 Issue
ECOARTNET/ BEST OF THE WEB NOMINEE  Museums and the Web Awards 2006
ECOARTPEDIA 2012/2013/2014 Exhibition/A Century in Search of the Artist SHOW

Complexity Art/Ecological Art REVIEW SUMMER 2013 Issue

ECOARTNET/ BEST OF THE WEB NOMINEE Museums and the Web Awards 2006

ECOARTPEDIA 2012/2013/2014/2015/2016/2017 CENTENNIAL/TRIBUTES/LINKS
ECOLOGICAL ART REVIEW Special Edition
ECOARTPEDIA Digital Ecological Art Library
ECOARTPEDIA 2012/2013/2014/2015/2016/2017 CENTENNIAL/TRIBUTES/LINKS

ECOLOGICAL ART REVIEW Special Edition

ECOARTPEDIA Digital Ecological Art Library


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