Minoru Kawabata

Minoru Kawabata (川端実, Kawabata Minoru; born on May 22, 1911, died on June 29, 2001) was a Japanese artist. Kawabata is best known for his color field paintings. Between 1960 and 1981, Kawabata had 11 solo shows at the prominent Betty Parsons Gallery in New York. Kawabata’s works are in the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Artizon Museum, Everson Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, the Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo, the National Museum of Art, Osaka, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the Newark Museum of Art, Ohara Museum of Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokosuka Museum of Art, among others.

Biography Early life and education (1911–1941) Kawabata was born on March 22, 1911, in Kasuga-chō, Koishikawa Ward, Tokyo.

War painting (1941–1945) Shortly after Kawabata's return from Europe, Japan was plunged into the Pacific War. Like many other artists, Kawabata was involved in producing war paintings. Kawabata’s war paintings were exhibited at the 1st Greater East Asian War Art Exhibition (大東亜戦争美術展) in 1942 and the 1st Army Art Exhibition (陸軍美術展) in 1943.

Postwar Japan (1945–1958) After the war, from 1950 to 1955, Kawabata became a professor at Tama Art University, Tokyo, and during this time participated in the formation of an art group known as the New Creation Society (Shinseisaku Kyōkai; 新制作協会). Kawabata held his first New York solo show at the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1960, forming an association which has continued ever since, with almost yearly exhibitions of his work. At the Venice Biennale, Kawabata exhibited eight works, including Vivid Red (1961), which is characterised by calligraphic brushwork and intense colours. In the 1950s, Kawabata’s work was influenced by Abstract Expressionism that swept the New York art scene at that time, but from the end of the 1960s his work developed into abstract paintings that emphasised colour fields and hard-edge geometric forms. Solo exhibitions 1942 Ginza Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo 1949 Hokusō Gallery (北荘画廊), Tokyo 1950 Hokusō Gallery, Tokyo 1951 Shiseidō Gallery (資生堂ギャラリー), Tokyo 1952 Takemiya Gallery (タケミヤ画廊), Tokyo 1954 Shiseidō Gallery, Tokyo 1956 Matsuya Ginza Department Store, Tokyo 1956 Fūgetsudō (風月堂), Tokyo 1958 Matsuya Ginza Department Store, Tokyo 1960 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1961 Galleria Apollinaire, Milan 1961 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1963 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1963 Tokyo Gallery (東京画廊), Tokyo 1965 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1967 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1969 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1971 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1972 Westbeth Courtyard Gallery, New York 1974 Everson Museum of Art, New York 1974 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1975 Minoru Kawabata (川端実展), The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura 1977 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1978 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo 1979 Root Gallery (ルートギャラリー), Tokyo 1980 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1981 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1983 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo 1983 Jack Tilton Gallery, New York 1984 Jack Tilton Gallery, New York 1985 Jack Tilton Gallery, New York 1988 Jack Tilton Gallery, New York 1988 Virginia Miller Galleries, Florida 1989 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo 1990 Jack Tilton Gallery, New York 1992 Minoru Kawabata (在米35年 孤高の軌跡: 川端実展), The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki Artizon Museum, Tokyo Chiba City Museum of Art Elder Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown Everson Museum of Art, New York Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo Kure Municipal Museum of Art Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Lissone Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo The National Museum of Art, Osaka The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Takamatsu Art Museum Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts Yokohama Museum of Art Yokosuka Museum of Art