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YOSHIHARA JIRO

  • YOSHIHARA JIRO is a Japanese abstract painter and businessman. In 1954, he founded the Gutai Art Association, the leading artistic movement in the postwar Kansai region. The following year, he held the first exhibition, and until 1968, he held 21 exhibitions of Gutai art not only in Japan but also in New York and Turin, becoming a part of the international art movement. He often said not to inherit modern paintings or imitate others, but create something that no one has ever done before." His philosophy led to the creation of many artists, including SHIRAGA KAZUO and MOTONAGA SADAMASA. He is best known for his works featuring circles, such as large white circles painted on a black background. Major Collections: National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design, Ohara Museum of Art, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka

  • relevant artists

    • KAYAMA MATAZO

      KAYAMA MATAZOU, Japanese painter and printmaker. He was born into a traditional artistic family: his grandfather was a Japanese-style painter and his father was a costume designer for Nishijin textiles in Kyoto. After graduating from Tokyo Fine Arts School, he studied under Kyujin Yamamoto and pursued Japanese-style painting. He held his first solo exhibition in 1955 and participated in the Guggenheim International Art Exhibition in 1958. Around this time, he began to exhibit frequently at exhibitions abroad. He became a professor emeritus at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

    • 戶泉惠德

    • 大嶽有一

    • ANDO TADAO

      ANDO TADAO, Japanese architect, born in Osaka, self-taught in architecture. He is a first-class architect and special University Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo. He opened his own design studio in 1969. He has produced numerous works in Japan and abroad, including houses, churches, and hotels, mainly using concrete. Row House in Sumiyoshi (1976), Church of Light (1989), Benesse House Museum in Naoshima (1992), The Hundred Step Garden in Awaji (2000), Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forest (2020), etc.

    • SHIRAGA KAZUO

      SHIRAGA KAZUO, was a leading abstract painter of Japan's postwar avantgarde, distinguished by his original methods and overwhelming physicality. In 1952 he co-founded the Zero Society with Murakami Saburo, Kanayama Akira, and Tanaka Atsuko, and in 1955 joined the Gutai Art Association, led by Yoshihara Jiro, becoming one of its central members. Shiraga is best known for his unprecedented "foot painting" technique, in which he painted on canvases placed on the floor while suspended by ropes, using his feet to manipulate paint. This radical method fused corporeality, movement, and improvisation with painting, generating works of extraordinary dynamism and energy. While resonating with contemporaneous Western movements such as Art Informel and Action Painting, his work also embodied Eastern spirituality and the Zen concept of "mushin" (no-mind), establishing a unique artistic world. Major collections: M+ Museum, Hong Kong; The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; The National Museum of Art, Osaka; Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka; and Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art.

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