Takesada Matsutani

is a Japanese avant-garde artist based in Paris and Nishinomiya. Active as a painter since the 1950s, Matsutani's practice has also included object-based sculpture, printmaking and installation. Matsutani was a member of the Gutai Art Association from 1963 until its dissolution in 1972. Gutai leader Jirō Yoshihara prioritized artistic innovation and originality, a lesson that has remained with the artist throughout his career.

Since 1961, Matsutani has used wood glue, what was then a newly available material in post-war Japan, to create organic forms on the surface of the canvas. Fascinated by the variety of evocative shapes that revealed themselves through his manipulation of the glue mixed with paint, the artist regularly returned to these biomorphic forms across a variety of mediums and styles, even adapting them to the context of hard-edge painting in the 1970s.

After receiving a scholarship to study for six months in Paris in 1966, Matsutani chose to settle there permanently. Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, he worked primarily as a printmaker. Since the late 1970s, in parallel to his painting practice, Matsutani has been using graphite and paper as the base for large-scale installations, entitled Streams. These works, finalized by a performance of the artist in situ, explore time, energy and transformation in muted tones of black and white.

Matsutani's works are represented in a large number of art museums and collections around the world. In 2002 the artist, who has lived a large part of his childhood in Nishinomiya, received the Nishinomiya City Cultural Award.

Biography

Early life and career Matsutani was born in Osaka in 1937. His interest for the visual arts developed early on, as illustrated by a relatively sophisticated watercolor landscape painting he completed in 1950, when he was only thirteen. While the artist maintains that he had a "regular upbringing after the Second World War", he contracted tuberculosis in 1951, a debilitating illness he battled on and off for eight years.

In 1954, his condition stabilized and he was admitted to Osaka Municipal High School of Industrial Arts (Ōsaka Shiritsu Kogei Gakkō) in 1954, where he studied nihonga, traditional Japanese painting. Two years later, he fell seriously ill and was forced to drop out of school and remain in the confines of the hospital and his home. He sketched that which was in his immediate surroundings, notably his plants and his pets, which included a dog, a cat and a bird.

Unable to officially complete his studies, Matsutani took drawing classes organized by the Nishinomiya City Art Association, where he studied under artists like the abstract calligraphers Waichi Tsutaka and Suda Kokuta. In 1957, he submitted a landscape painting, The Rock's Surface, to the nihonga section of the 8th Nishinomiya City Exhibition. The entry was accepted and attracted the attention of artist juror Shosaku Arao, who invited him to visit his atelier. He developed the materiality of his paintings by using a variety of media, including oils and acrylics, sand and cement, and creating rich, textured surfaces.

Although Matsutani's work was included in Gutai exhibitions from 1959 onwards, this did not grant the young artist entry into the group. Thus, Yoshihara expressed little interest in Matsutani's art informel-influenced canvases, telling the artist that "this kind of thing already exists".

Matsutani showed his new works to members of Gutai, who encouraged him to present them to Yoshihara. Yoshihara was indeed pleased, and Matsutani was officially granted membership to Gutai in 1963.

The openings, swellings and flesh tones of Matsutani's works lend themselves just as easily to erotic interpretation, of which Matsutani is aware: "At the time, a lot of people were repelled. Even now, women often say so. They say it looks like buttocks, or genitals, or the belly of a pregnant woman."

Gutai specialist Ming Tiampo has characterized the singularity of Matsutani's production during the 1960s as "[contesting] the legacy of abstract expressionism and Art Informel, but also [resisting] what he retrospectively characterized as the 'dry' quality of American hard-edged painting and minimalism."

Although Matsutani relocated to Paris in 1966, he continued to participate in Gutai exhibitions by sending prints made in France to his fellow artists. His participation ceased in 1972 with the disbanding of the group after Yoshihara's death.

Relocation to Paris While Germaine Viatte recounts that Matsutani had never thought to leave Japan, he found himself awarded in 1966 a scholarship to study for six months in Paris after having entered a contest organized by the Mainichi Shinbun and the Institut Frano-Japonais of Kyoto. Upon his return to Paris, he produced several hard-edge paintings that, despite the change in style, maintained the artist's interest in organic forms. Art historian Izumi Nakajima described how Matsutani's flat shapes "swell like rice cakes and expand into other color sections and off the rectangular shape of the frame. Although the works preserve their flatness with their form, the image betrays the flat universe to suggest concepts of gravity, movement and volume." As art historian Valérie Douniaux has noted, "the Streams are like existence itself, sometimes peaceful, sometimes tempestuous." Importantly, this moment of finalization is done in situ, adding a performative element to the pieces.

Since the early 1980s, the Stream works have taken on a variety of forms, and have grown more site-specific. They have been installed in both traditional exhibition sites like galleries and museums, as well as religious spaces, like temples, chapels and churches. Matsutani has introduced elements such as stones, crossbeams, sacks of water, cloth, and sumi ink. While the artist's performances vary, the artist's presence makes aware the flow of black graphite, confirming that the piece is "in a process of becoming and perpetual transformation".

The Stream works, with their poignant use of black and intense, meditative procedure, have proved rich for interpretation. Many see the series as a reconnection to the artist's Japanese origins, which the artist expressed a newfound interest for during the 1970s. There is the evident link between black and sumi ink, used for calligraphy. The artist also expressed the significance of seeing 16th century painter Tōhaku Hasegawa's Pine Trees Screen during a visit to Japan, an ink-on-paper work depicting Japanese pine trees in the mist, which "inspired [Matsutani] with a clear vision of what he himself hoped to achieve". Commenting on Matsutani's repetitive practice in creating the long bands of black graphite, and noting that Buddhism "had been a central element in Matsutani's education since his childhood," art historian Christine Macel states that "Matsutani is close to Zen [Buddhism's] precepts, even though he does not practice it."

And yet, Izumi Nakajima argues that "it would be somewhat simplistic to consider Stream [...] to be a return to tradition". There is also a strong metaphysical element to such works. Germaine Viatte notes that in the late 1970s, the artist reached middle age and, logically, "time invited itself into Matsutani's art". Toshio Yamanashi importantly adds: "The depth of darkness represents not only the thickness of accumulated pencil lines, but also the sedimentation of time, and the marks the artist makes to confirm he is alive. Inherent in the deep density of black is the living pulse of the artist, who has dedicated himself to the black material."

In parallel to his large-scale Stream installations, Matsutani has never ceased to create paintings with glue, continuously exploring the endless variations that this singular material provides. He began applying graphite to the forms in glue in the late 1970s, creating shadow-like variations upon the canvas that he related to the ideas about beauty and light shared by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki in his essay In Praise of Shadows. While for many years Matsutani's palette remained principally black and white, since 2013 the artist has begun employing exuberant shades of yellow, green and blue.

Selected solo exhibitions

1963: Takesada Matsutani, Gutai Pinacotheca, Osaka, Japan 1967: Matsutani, The Art of Plastic, Shinanobashi Gallery, Osaka, Japan 1968: Takesada Matsutani, Galerie Zunini, Paris, France 1971: Takesada Matsutani, Station Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1976: De l’objet à l’image sérigraphique, Galerie Eiko, Paris, France 1976: Takesada Matsutani, Galerie Watari, Tokyo, Japan 1978: Matsutani. Perspectives Japonaises, Galerie Alain Oudin, Paris, France 1978: Takesada Matsutani, Works on Paper, Gallery Don Soker-Kaseman/Upstairs Gallery, San Francisco, United States 1979: Takesada Matsutani, Gallery Marina Dinkler, Berlin, Germany 1980: Takesada Matsutani, Gallery S-65, Aalst, Belgium 1980: Takesada, Matsutani, Gallery Heide Hildebrand, Klagenfurt, Austria 1981: Enpitsu ni yoru kuro no sekai [Un monde noir au crayon], Gallery Kaneko Art, Tokyo, Japan 1982: Takesada Matsutani, Wetering Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1982: Works on Paper, Gallery Don Soker-Kaseman, San Francisco, United States. 1983: Today's Artists No. 12: Matsutani Takesada 1981-83, Osaka Contemporary Art Center, Osaka, Japan 1985: Stream, Galerie Monochrome, Aachen, Germany 1986: Takesada Matsutani, Contemporary Art Center, Honolulu, United States. 1988: Takesada Matsutani: peintures, installations, Pablo Neruda Contemporary Art Center, Corbeil-Essonnes, Franc 1989: Searching for a New Trend in Contemporary Art, Art Space Baku, Fukuoka, Japan 1992: Matsutani Stream-Ashiya-92, City Museum of Art and History, Ashiya, Japan 1993: Takesada Matsutani: Works from the 1960s to Today, Ôtani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya, Japan 1998: Matsutani. Action-Temps-Espace, Fondation DANAE – Diffusion Attitudes Nouvelles Art et Espaces, Jarnac, France 1999: Matsutani's Prints, 1960-1988, City Museum of Art and History, Ashiya, Japan 2000: Matsutani Waves, Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya, Japan 2002: Takesada Matsutani, Cairns Regional Gallery, Australia 2007: Matsutani–rétrospective, Centre culturel André Malraux, Agen, France 2007: Takesada Matsutani, Gendaikko Museum, Miyazaki, Japan 2010: Matsutani Takesada. Stream, Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan 2013: Takesada Matsutani. A Matrix, Gallery Hauser & Wirth, Londres, UK 2015: Matsutani - Currents, Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya, Japan 2018: Takesada Matsutani, Japan House, São Paulo, Brazil 2019: Takesada Matsutani, Retrospective, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 2020: Takesada Matsutani : estampes, 1967-1977, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France

Selected group exhibitions

1957: 8th Nishinomiya City Exhibition, Yasui Elementary School, Nishinomiya, Japan 1960: 9th Gutai Exhibition, Takashimaya Department Store, Osaka, Japan 1962: Inaugural Exhibition of the Gutai Pinacotheca, Osaka, Japan. 1965: Groupe Gutai, Galerie Stadler, Paris, France / Mickery Arthous, Loenersloot, The Netherlands / Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany 1966: NUL 1966 Art Exhibition (Nul Negentienhonderd zesenzestig), International Gallery, Olez, The Hague, the Netherlands 1968: 1st International print biennale, City museum of modern art, Paris, France. 1968: Internationale Grafik Ausstellung, Europahaus, Vienna, Austria. 1968: 1st British International Print Biennale, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, United Kingdom 1969: 25 Artists from Atelier 17, Museum of Modern Art / Negev Museum, Haifa / Beer-Shava, Israël 1969: 9-kai Gendai Nihon Bijutsu ten [9th Exhibition of Japanese Contemporary Art], Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan 1969: International Exhibition of Graphic Arts, Modern Art Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia 1969: Gendai bijutsu no douko [Trends in Contemporary Art], National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan 1970: Exhibition at the entrance of Expo ’70 Midori Pavilion by the Gutai Group, Osaka, Japan 1970: International Print Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, New York, United States 1970: 2e Biennale internationale de l’estampe, City Modern Art Museum, Paris France 1970: 1st American Print Biennale, National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chili 1971: 10th Contemporary Japanese paintings exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo / City Museum of Art, Kyoto / Cultural Center, Aichi, Japan 1971: 42nd Northwest Printmakers International Exhibition, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, United States. 1972: Ibiza Biennale of Graphic Arts '72, Museum of Contemporary Art, Ibiza, Spain 1974: Contemporary Japanese Print Exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City, Mexico. 1975: 2nd Miami International Print Biennal, The Metropolitan Museum and Art Center, Miami, United States 1979: Yoshihara Jiro to Gutai no sonogo [Jirô Yoshihara and Today's Aspects of Gutai], Hyôgo Prefecture Museum of Modern Art, Kobe, Japan 1981: Art Now 1970-1980, Hyôgo Prefecture Museum of Modern Art, Kobe, Japan 1982: 9th International Print Biennal, Ekspozycja Pavillon, Krakow, Poland 1983: 1st Chinese International Print Exhibition, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan 1984: 6th European Print Biennal, Musée de l’impression sur étoffes, Mulhouse, France 1984: 10th International Print Biennal, Narodowe Museum, Krakow, Poland 1985 :Endai-hanga no kiseki [Trajectory of Contemporary Prints], Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan 1985: Gravure, grands formats [Engraving, Large Formats], City Museum of Modern Art, Liège, Belgium 1985: Grupo Gutai: Pintura y Acción [Gutai Group: Painting and Action], Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art, Madrid, Spain / Savremene Umernosti Museum, Belgrade, Yugoslavia / Hyôgo Prefecture of Modern Art, Kobe, Japan 1986: 10th International Exhibition of Original Drawings, Moderna Galerija, Rijeka, Croatia 1986: Gendai no shiro to kuro [Black & White Today], Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan. 1986: 11th International Print Biennal, Ekspozycja Pavillon, Krakow, Poland 1987: Japon Passé-Present, Centre de la Vieille Charité / Musée Cantini, Marseille, France 1990: Giappone all’avanguardia, il Gruppo Gutai negli anni Cinquanta, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy 1990: Gutai: Mikan no zenei shudan [Gutai: The Avant-Garde Group Unfinished], Shôtô Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. 1991: Kaiga no bokenshatachi "Gutai" [Adventurers of Painting "Gutai"], Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan 1992: Gutai bijutsu kyokai no sakkatachi [Artists of Gutai Art Association], Miyagi Prefecture Museum of Art, Sendai, Japan 1993: Gutai II: 1959–1965, City Museum of Art and History, Ashiya, Japan 1993: Gutai III: 1965–1972, City Museum of Art and History, Ashiya, Japan 1993: Challenge of Art After the War: Jiro Yoshihara and the Gutai Group, Ehime Prefecture Art Museum, Matsuyama, Japan 1994: Kansai no bijutsu [Kansai Art 1950–1970], Hyôgo Prefecture Museum of Modern Art, Kobe, Japan 1994: Jikan/Bijutsu: 20-seiki bijutsu ni okeru jikan no hyôgen [Time in Contemporary Art], Modern Art Museum, Shiga, Japan 1996: Relaciones, 10 artists from 3 continents, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporaneo, San José, Costa Rica 1996: Hanga no 1970-nendai [Prints of the 1970s], Shoto Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. 1996: Chimériques polymères, le plastique dans l’art contemporain, Modern Art Museum, Nice, France 1996: Sengo-bijutsu no danmen ten Hyogo-kenritsu-bijutsukan-shozo Yamamura korekushon kara [Post-War Art from the Yamamura Collection in the Hyôgo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art], City Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan 1997: Juryoku-Sengo bijutsu no zahyo-jiku [Gravity – Axis of Contemporary Art], The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan 1998: Artistes japonais à Paris, Japanese cultural House in Paris (French: Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris), France 1998: New Prints of Europe, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangdong, China 1999: Gutai, Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France 1999: Gendai-Hanga. 21-nin no houko: Genda-hanga nyûmon [The Axis of 21 printers in Japan – Introduction to 20th Century Prints], National Art Museum, Osaka, Japan 2000: Sugai Kumi, S.W. Hayter, Matsutani Takesada, Musée Gendaikko, Miyazaki, Japan 2002: Gutai bijutsu kyokai no sakka Korekushon kikaku ni yoru [From the Collection: Artists of the Gutai Group], Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, Japan 2004: Ano atsui jidai me o samasu! Kessei 50-shunen kinen Gutai kaiko-ten [Gutai Retrospective Exhibition: 50th Anniversary], Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, Japan 2004: Hanga: Tozai-koryu no nami [Hanga: Waves of East-West Cultural Interchange], University of Arts Museum, Tokyo, Japan 2006: Peintures et Performances, Takesada Matsutani & Germain Rosez, Espace Arsenal, Metz, France. 2007: Resounding Spirit, Japanese Contemporary Art of the 1960s, The Gibson Gallery Collection and Live Art Festival, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, Canada 2007: L’Arte e il Torchio [Art and the Printing Press], Museo civico ala Ponzone, Cremone, Italy 2008: Taiwan International Invitational Mini-Prints and Mini Drawings Exhibition, NINU Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan 2010: Katachi no chikara Kodo-keizai-seicho no bijutsu hen-Osaka-shiritsu-kindai-bijutsukan korekushon o chushin ni [Power of Form: Japanese Contemporary Art of the 1950s and 1960s from the Collection of the Osaka City Museum of Modern Art], City Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan 2010: Hirogaru Imagination [Broaden Your Imagination], City Museum, Riverwalk Gallery, Kitakyûshû Japan 2010: [Do Something No One's Ever Done Before!], Kwansei Gakuin University Museum Planning Space, Nishinomiya, Japan 2010: Collection 3 Nihon Bijutsu [Japanese Art] 1950 – 2010, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan 2011: The Spirit of Gutai, Horio and Matsutani, Galerie Friedrich Müller, Frankfurt, Germany 2012: Gutai: The Spirit of an Era, National Arts Center, Tokyo, Japan 2012: A Visual Essay on Gutai, Hauser & Wirth Gallery, New York, United States 2012: Taiwa suru bijutsu / Zenei no Kansai [Artistic Interactions: Avant-garde Kansai], Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya, Japan 2012: Karuizawa no kaze ten-Nippon no gendai-ato 1950-ima [Wind of Karuizawa: Japanese Contemporary Art 1950-2012], Karuizawa New Art Museum, Karuizawa, Japan 2013:The Collection: Gutai yakushin [The progression of Gutai], City Museum of Art and History, Ashiya, Japan 2013: Parallel Views: Italian and Japanese Art from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Collection Rachofsky, The Warehous, Dallas, United States 2013: Gutai: Splendid Playground, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States 2013: Korekushon hanga ten [Collection of Prints]: Sugai Kumi/Matsutani Takesada, City Museum of Art and History, Ashiya, Japan 2015: Nouvelle présentation des collections modernes (1905-1965), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 2017: Viva Arte Viva, 57th Venice Biennal, Venice, Italy 2018: Gutai, L'espace et le temps, Musée Soulages, Rodez, France