Waichi Tsutaka (津高和一, Tsutaka Waichi, November 1, 1911, in Osaka – January 17, 1995, in Nishinomiya) was a Japanese visual artist, mainly known as painter and poet.
Tsutaka has been recognized as one of the leading postwar Japanese abstract painters for his calligraphic paintings, which explored the formal, textual, and material variety of lines. He also created ink paintings, watercolors, drawings, lithographs, ceramic plates, stone carvings, collages, and illustrations for publications, as well as poems, essays and articles on art, and exhibitions reviews.
Tsutaka was an influential figure in the cultural life of the Hanshin region, who vitally engaged in artist groups and platforms for cross-genre exchange, in art education, and in art projects and outdoor exhibitions that aimed at breaking down the separation between art and (everyday) life, making art accessible for a broader public, and fostering dialogue through art.
Biography
Early life Born in 1911 in Osaka as the son of a rice dealer, Tsutaka was adopted by his older half-brother and moved to Nishinomiya in 1914 following his father's bankruptcy.“年譜” (Chronology), in: 津高和一（追悼）展: 絵画と詩のはざまで / Tsutaka Waichi Retrospective, exhib. cat., Nishinomiya Ōtani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya: Nishinomiya Ōtani Memorial Art Museum, 1996, pp. 76–113, here p. 76. In his youth Tsutaka showed an interest in literature and poetry. He enlisted and served in the military from 1932 to 1933. In 1937, he joined the Surrealist poets circle Kōbe Shijin (Kobe Poet), which would in 1940 become a target of anti-communist oppression in Japan. Under the provisions of the Public Security Preservation Laws, in the so-called Kobe Poet Incident, several members were arrested and interrogated under the suspicion of undermining the political and social order.Toshiko Kugai, “神戸詩人事件のこと” (On the Kobe Poet incident), Hyōgo shigaku 32 (1963): 11–19. Tsutaka was spared persecution but became aware of how poetry as a form of verbal expression could be seen as dangerous politically.Hirai Shōichi, “津高和一の1950年代” (Waichi Tsutaka’s 1950s), in: 津高和一とゲンビの作家たち:1950年代のモダニズム (Waichi Tsutaka and the artists of Genbi: Modernism of the 1950s), exhib. cat., Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kobe: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 1995, pp. 2–4, here p. 2. In 1939, he began to study painting at the Nakanoshima Yōga Kenkyūjo (Nakanoshima Institute of Western Painting), a private art school in Osaka, and also briefly worked for the Japanese Red Cross Society.“年譜”, in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで, p. 76. In 1940, Tsutaka was again drafted into the army, and he was sent to Manchuria in 1941. He returned to Japan in 1943.
1946–1960: Postwar career and interdisciplinary engagement In 1946, Tsutaka joined the avant-garde cross-genre discussion group Kai Variete (Variété Society),“年譜”, in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで, p. 77. and began to participate in the annual juried exhibition of Kōdō Bijutsu Kyōkai (Action Art Association, commonly known as Kōdō), of which he became an official member in 1952.“津高和一 日本美術年鑑所載物故者記事” (Year book of Japanese art, obituaries: Waichi Tsutaka), Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/bukko/10621.html. Retrieved 2021-05-18. He became a contributor to the poetry magazines Hi no tori (Fire Bird) in 1947,“年譜”, in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで, p. 77.Nakai Yasuyuki, “津高和一の抽象絵画” (Waichi Tsutaka’s abstract paintings), in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで, pp. 12–16, here p. 13. and Tenbin (Scale) in 1950,“年譜”, in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで, p. 78. and continued to engage in interdisciplinary exchange. He became a vital member of Gendai Bijutsu Kondankai (Contemporary Art Discussion Group, commonly known as Genbi), which was founded in 1952 by Jirō Yoshihara, Kokuta Suda and others as a forum for a free interdisciplinary exchange among artists, critics, and scholars from the Kansai region.Hirai, "津高和一の1950年代”, p. 3.Kunii Aya, “ゲンビ: 1950年代のアヴァンギャルド: 追い求めた'新しい造形'", in: ゲンビ: 現代美術懇談会の軌跡 1952–1957 / Genbi: New Era for Creations, exhib. cat., Ashiya City Museum of Art & History, Ashiya: Ashiya City Museum of Art & History, 2013, pp. 73–75, here p. 74. In addition to painters and sculptors, the group included avant-garde practitioners of the traditional arts: ceramics (such as Sōdeisha), calligraphy (such as Bokujinkai) and ikebana. Tsutaka contributed talks and exhibitions reviews to Genbi.Hirai, “津高和一の1950年代”, p. 4. Around this time, Tsutaka began to create murals, fashion design and stage sets for fashion shows and theaters.Hirai, “津高和一の1950年代”, p. 4.“年譜”, in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで, pp. 76–113.“津高和一年譜” (Waichi Tsutaka Chronology), in: 津高和一展：点、線、面のポエジー (Waichi Tsutaka exhibition: Poesy of dots, lines, planes), exhib. cat., The National Museum of Art, Osaka, 1993, Osaka: Osaka Prefectural Government, Osaka Foundation of Culture, 1993, p. 144. With Yoshihara, Suda, Kazuo Yagi, and others,“年譜”, in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで, p. 82. Tsutaka in 1955 co-founded the Kansai section of the International Art Club. In 1956 he co-founded the Seikatsu Zōkei Kyōkai (Association of Plastic Arts for Everyday Life), which aimed at breaching the separation between art and life by providing works made of everyday materials or for everyday use.Hirai, “津高和一の1950年代”, p. 4.
Tsutaka's breakthrough as painter occurred in the early 1950s when art critic Atsuo Imaizumi praised his paintings Boshi-zō (Mother and Child) at the 6th Kōdō Exhibition in 1951 and Maisō (Burial) at the 7th Kōdō Exhibition in 1952.Hirai, "津高和一の1950年代”, pp. 2–3.Takahashi Tōru, “津高和一の絵：生と線” (Waichi Tsutaka’s paintings: Life and lines), in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで / Tsutaka Waichi Retrospective, exhib. cat., Nishinomiya Ōtani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya: Nishinomiya Ōtani Memorial Art Museum, 1996, pp. 7–11, here pp. 8–9. Tsutaka was subsequently recognized as one of the leading Japanese artists, and his works were presented in major exhibitions and survey shows of contemporary Japanese art, such as Gendai Nihon bijutsuten (The Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan) from 1954 to 1969, Nihon kokusai bijutsu-ten (International Art Exhibition Japan) from 1955 to 1965, Nichibei bijutsu-ten (Abstract Art Exhibition: Japan and USA) in 1955, and Sekai – konnichi no bijutsu (Exhibition international d’art actuel) in 1956.
Tsutaka's paintings were included in exhibitions of contemporary Japanese art abroad, such as Six Contemporary Japanese Artists (1956) at the Smithsonian Institution and other venues in the US, The Japan Contemporary Art Circuit Exhibition in Europe (1958) shown in cities in Italy, France, Germany, Yugoslavia, Egypt, and Iran, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Iran, and Contemporary Japanese Art (1958) touring Australia and New Zealand.“美術界年史 (彙報)”, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/nenshi/5900.html. Retrieved 2021-5-21. In 1957 Tsutaka was selected as one of the Japanese participants in the 4th São Paulo Art Biennial. During the Biennial in 1959 Tsutaka held solo exhibitions in Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. Tsutaka's painting The Infinite (1960) was shortlisted by the Japanese jury for the 3rd Guggenheim International Award in 1960.Guggenheim International Award 1960, exhib. cat., New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1960, https://archive.org/details/guggenheimintern1960sven Retrieved 2021-05-21.
1960–1990: Expansion of artistic mediums, art and everyday life Tsutaka's participation in national and international exhibitions continued from the 1960s to the 1980s: for example, Japanische Malerei der Gegenwart in Berlin, Frankfurt and Essen in 1961, and the Nihon no chūshō kaiga ten (Japanese Abstract Painting Exhibition) at the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo in 1963. In 1962 Tsutaka travelled to Italy and showed his work in solo shows in Venice and Trieste, extending his stay in Europe until early 1963. His paintings Black and White (1961), Cosmos (1963), Accept the Inevitable (1964), and Untitled (1964) were included in the exhibition The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965.The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture, exhib. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966. At the invitation of the University of São Paulo, Tsutaka travelled to Brazil in 1970, and again for solo shows in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in 1971. In 1972 his work was presented at the 7th Japan Art Festival in Mexico. In 1979 Tsutaka travelled to New York to participate in an exhibition with Kenzō Okada and Tōkō Shinoda, which was shown in several cities in the US. Despite his international exhibitions and travels, Tsutaka remained strongly attached to his hometown Nishinomiya and the surrounding Kansai region until his death. He participated in an increasing number of prefectural and communal exhibitions such as the Hyogo Prefecture Art Exhibition and Nishinomiya City Art Exhibition, as well as in a great number of solo and group shows at art spaces and galleries particularly in Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto.
Since 1960, Tsutaka's paintings shifted towards a more gestural and increasingly calligraphic style, which he would maintain until his death. The 1960s and 1970s also saw an expansion of mediums used by Tsutaka. Beginning in 1965, he included pottery and ceramic works in his exhibitions,“年譜”, in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで. followed by ink wash paintings, drawings, lithographs, and stone carving. Around 1979, he began using Japanese handmade washi paper for collages.
In 1962 Tsutaka held his first open-air exhibition of his works in the garden of his house in Nishinomiya, which were called Jiteiten (Exhibition in my garden),Hirai, “津高和一の1950年代”, p. 4. which was later renamed Taiwa no tame no sakuhin ten (Exhibition of works for the dialogue), and Kakū tsūshin ten (Communication of Imagination Exhibition) in 1976. These exhibitions, which ran for a day each in 1962 and 1963, or, since 1964 for about a week, were accompanied by events, symposiums, dance and music performances, and refreshments, with the aim of making art asseccible to the greater public and fostering free and open dialogue between people.Nakai, “津高和一の抽象絵画”, p. 12. This idea further developed into seminars and to the foundation of an organizational committee and eventually to the establishment of the open-air Kakū tsūshin tento ten (Communication of Imagination Tent Exhibition) at the Shukugawa River banks in Nishinomiya in 1980, which included performances, workshops, and site-specific works.
From 1968 to 1985, Tsutaka taught art as a professor at the Osaka University of Arts, and thereafter became an honorary professor.“津高和一 日本美術年鑑所載物故者記事”. In his teaching Tsutaka encouraged his students to think about the relation between art and life, and he organized experimental field trips and exhibitions about the relation of art and everyday life spaces in the 1970s.Yoshida Hiroki, "津高和一 百年の歩みから", in: 津高和一 : 架空通信展 : 生誕百年 / Tsutaka Waichi: Communication of Imagination, exhib. cat., Nishinomiya Ōtani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya: Nishinomiya Ōtani Memorial Art Museum, 2011, pp. 8–13, here p.11.“年譜”, in: 津高和一（追悼）展：絵画と詩のはざまで, p. 99–101.
Late years A recipient of the Nishinomiya Citizen Cultural Award in 1964, the Hyogo Prefecture Cultural Award in 1967, the Osaka Arts Prize in 1986, Tsutaka received the Kobe Shimbun Peace Award in 1991. Since the late 1980s, Tsutaka’ works were increasingly shown in larger-scaled solo exhibitions in the Hanshin region, e.g., at Tsukashin Hall in Amagasaki in 1987, at the Keihan Gallery of Arts and Sciences in Osaka in 1992, at the National Museum of Art, Osaka, in 1993, and, posthumously, at the Nishinomiya Ōtani Memorial Art Museum in 1996.
Tsutaka died in the Great Hanshin earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1995. He was found inanimate under the ruins of his house.
Work
Painting