NEW YORK, NY.- For Asia Week New York 2023, Shibunkaku is excited to present a collection of artworks created by postwar Japanese artists, including Yamaguchi Takeo, Dōmoto Inshō, Morita Shiryū and Inoue Yūichi, at Joan B Mirviss LTD.

The exhibition showcases post-war Japanese abstraction through Yamaguchi Takeo’s oil and watercolor works, Dōmoto Inshō’s iwanogu (natural mineral pigments) on paper, as well as avant- garde calligraphy by pioneering artists, Morita Shiryū and Inoue Yūichi, aiming at highlighting the variety of colors, materials, and practices that were prominent in Japan's art scene during the postwar period.

We are also presenting a calligraphy work by Hakuin Ekaku, one of the most influential figures in Zen Buddhism who was active in the 17th century. His unique expressions rooted in Zen philosophies and aesthetics have long been the inspiration for many artists, including Morita Shiryū.

This presentation in New York, alongside the ceramic painted works in Painted Clay: Wada Morihiro and Modern Ceramics of Japan presented by Joan B Mirviss LTD, a gallery led by Ms. Joan B Mirviss, the pioneer, expert and top art dealer of Japanese modern and contemporary ceramics, provides a special perspective on Japan's dynamic modern art scene. It showcases the innovative techniques that Japanese masters developed as well as their new expression and color to art, both on flat surfaces and curving vessels.

Shibunkaku
Established in 1937 in Kyoto, Shibunkaku offers a unique sense of aesthetics and appreciation of art that transcending cultural and geographical borders, periods, and genres. Our expertise is rooted in early modern and modern Japanese fine art with an emphasis on calligraphy and painting. In addition, we have expanded into postwar and contemporary art, aiming to count among the leading galleries in Japanese art of highest quality and enduring art historical value. Besides the main gallery in Kyoto, and Shibunkaku owns a space in Ginza, Tokyo.

Yamaguchi Takeo (painter; 1902-1983)

A pioneering abstract painter in postwar Japan. Since the early stage of his artistic career, Yamaguchi had devoted to the experiment of non-figurative painting, which gradually evolved a pure abstraction after the War. Yamaguchi’s work typically represents compositions of geometrical forms and colours, which proposed a different approach to the postwar Japanese abstraction during the ‘Informel whirlwind’. Yamaguchi’s works have been widely exhibited in and out of Japan, including the São Paulo Biennial and Venice Biennial.

Collections include National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; National Museum of Art, Osaka; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York, and others. Exhibitions include São Paulo Biennial (1955, 1963); Japan Pavilion, Venice Biennale (1956); Guggenheim International Award exhibition, Guggenheim Museum (1958); and New Japanese Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1964); Yamaguchi Takeo, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (1980); Yamaguchi Takeo and Horiuchi Masakazu, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (1980), and others.

Dōmoto Inshō (nihonga painter; 1891–1975)

Nihonga painter from Kyoto. Dōmoto graduated from the Kyoto City School of Arts and Crafts and initially worked in textile design, but later studied Nihonga under Nishiyama Suishō at the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting and Seikōsha, Suishō’s private painting school. Dōmoto worked in a variety of media and styles, including sculpture and craft. He earned a reputation through many commissions for large-scale and grandiose sliding door and wall paintings at distinguished Buddhist temples such as Daitokuji, Ninnaji, Tōji and Daigoji in Kyoto. Dōmoto established his own painting school Tōkyūsha and was appointed a professor at the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting. From the 1950s onwards, he engaged in abstract painting and exhibited widely in Japan and abroad.

Morita Shiryū (calligrapher; 1912–1998)

Avant-garde calligrapher from Hyōgo Prefecture. Like fellow artist Inoue Yūichi, Morita studied under the calligraphy master Ueda Sōkyū. He co-founded the avant-garde group Bokujinkai together with Inoue and was the founder and editor of the journal Bokubi (Beauty of Ink), both of which revolutionized traditional Japanese calligraphy and spread knowledge of Japanese avant-garde calligraphy to an international audience. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor with Dark Blue Ribbon.

Inoue Yūichi (calligrapher; 1916–1985)

Born in Tokyo, Inoue studied calligraphy under Ueda Sōkyū, an avant-garde calligrapher who also mentored Morita Shiryū. Inoue co-founded the calligraphers’ group Bokujinkai. His large-scale, experimental calligraphy of single Chinese characters resonated strongly with the concurrent movement of Abstract Expressionism and breathed new life into the calligraphy world in Japan. Regarded as daring and innovative, his works were widely exhibited in Japan and abroad, including Documenta 2 in Kassel (1959) and the São Paulo Biennial (1957, 1961).

Hakuin Ekaku (Zen priest; 1685–1768)

Mid-Edo period Zen priest of the Rinzai School; calligrapher and painter. Hakuin began his religious training with the Zen master Tanrei Soden at Shōinji temple in today’s Shizuoka Prefecture. Spending many years as a traveling monk, he eventually rose to the position of abbot of the eminent Zen temple Myōshinji in Kyoto in 1718. Hakuin played a vital role in reviving the declining Rinzai School and in spreading Zen Buddhism among a wide public. His humorous paintings and his expressive, bold calligraphy served to illustrate his religious teachings to an often-illiterate audience of commoners. In modern times both came to be highly regarded for their unique aesthetic qualities.