LEEDS.- Jiro Takamatsu: The Temperature of Sculpture celebrates the work of this leading figure of post-war art. Through over seventy sculptures, drawings and documents loaned from collections in Japan, USA and Europe, the exhibition traces Takamatsu’s artistic practice through his exhibition history, focusing on works from the early 1960s to the late 1970s.

The exhibition shows Takamatsu’s participation in landmark international exhibitions, such as Venice Biennale (1968) and Documenta 6 (1977), and contributions to exhibitions in Japan where experimental practices flourished, including the annual Yomiuri Indépendant (1958-63), Tokyo Biennial: Between Man and Matter (1970) and Expo ’70, Osaka (1970).

Jiro Takamatsu (1936-98) is central to the development of post-war art in Japan. Having trained as a painter, Takamatsu turned to sculpture in 1961. For the following three decades he explored the nature of perception. Sometimes his materials were everyday objects, such as bottles, cloth, string, stones and furniture. At other times they had a strong association to sculptural traditions, such as marble, wood and concrete. Significantly, Takamatsu also used abstract concepts as his material, working with shadows and perspective. In 1971 he captured the shadows of passers-by on construction walls, and in 1970 he made perspective something that could be touched at Expo ’70, the 1970 world’s fair in Osaka.

In 1964 Takamatsu co-founded Hi-Red Center, an artist collective that brought satirical and humorous actions into the daily life of Tokyo - streets were scrubbed clean with toothbrushes on the occasion of the 1964 Olympics, bags were dropped off high-rise buildings and commuter train routes were interrupted by sculptural events. Takamatsu described that this experience ‘engrained in me a habit of questioning, shaking up, and removing everything surplus to the assumptions behind whatever I was creating.’ This principle would remain a guide to his sculptural practice. The Temperature of Sculpture pays attention to the ways Takamatsu rethought how art can be a part of everyday life and encouraged us to become more aware of the mechanics of our perception.

“Jiro Takamatsu rethought the possibilities of sculpture, and The Temperature of Sculpture shows how he reframed sculpture for a new age. It has been an honour to work with his estate in Tokyo. This exhibition demonstrates how important the radical art of Japan in the 1960s and 70s is to our understanding of sculpture today, opening a new route for sculpture studies. Here at the Henry Moore Institute our vision is to follow our founder Henry Moore’s wishes to introduce people to the power of international sculpture. Takamatsu is crucial in this story.” ---Lisa Le Feuvre, Head of Sculpture Studies at the Henry Moore Institute