Short Biography

A Thousand Cranes, 1970, color on silk/ a pair of six-fold screens, 1.6 x 3.7m each

Matazo Kayama, Kyoto-born painter, was born on September 2, 1927. He graduated from the Nihonga department of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1949 and was seen in Japanese art circles after World War II as the representative of a new Japanese style. Kayama’s early work reflected the depressed conditions following the defeat of Japan in the war. Taking animals as his subject-matter, he produced works that expressed the instability of human life in modern society. He also depicted such subjects as Winter. In the early 1960s he created refined landscapes suggestive of the decorative character of classical Japanese painting. After 1980 his style changed again, towards an individualistic approach visible in his large ink paintings of Chinese and Japanese natural life. This style was essentially a revival of the unique decorative character of Japanese art, but with a modern sense of form and mood. Kayama also experimented with jewellery and kimono design and with painting on ceramics.

Timeline

Impact in the Superflat Manifesto

While “tradition” is often viewed as a dead weight, cramping and stifling creativity, it can also serve as a springboard to higher levels of artistic achievement.

Nihonga, a Meiji-era revival of traditional Japanese art, had been associated with the imperialism of the war period, it was under a cloud in the late ’40s and early ’50s. In a period of intense Westernization, it no longer seemed relevant. Kayama’s early paintings of animals, like Moon and Zebra (1954), have a harsh stylization that owes more to the brutalism and reductionism found in Western art of the time. 

Waves in Spring and Autumn, 1966, color on silk/six-fold screen, 1.6 x 3.6m

By the time Waves in Spring and Autumn appeared in 1966, the traces of Western art of Kayama’s earlier paintings had all but disappeared. Although this work presents us with traditional nihonga subject matter—seasonal changes represented by cherry blossoms and autumn leaves. The artist has reinterpreted the traditional seikaiha (blue ocean wave) pattern. Instead of limiting himself to the usual tight pattern of overlapping patches of parallel curves, he has loosened the design to create swirling lines that sweep round and energize the picture.

Moon and Zebra, 1954, color on paper, 1.1 x 1.4m

Videos

Links

Matazo Kayama Retrospective 1927-2004