Tsuruko Yamazaki

was a Japanese artist, known for her bold artistic experiments with abstract visual styles and non-traditional materials. She was a co-founder and the longest-standing female member of the Gutai Art Association, an avant-garde artists' collective established by Jirō Yoshihara.

Biography Yamazaki was born in 1925 in Ashiya, Hyōgo, Japan. In 1947, she attended a three-day summer art workshop directed by Yoshihara. Impressed by Yoshihara's radically novel approach to art, Yamazaki began studying with him and eventually became a member of Gutai upon its establishment under his leadership.

Yamazaki had been an active member of the Gutai group since its founding in 1954. She regularly participated in Gutai's Outdoor Exhibitions, performance events, and Gutai Art Exhibitions. As Gutai gradually garnered interest in the international art world, Yamazaki showed her works at Martha Jackson Gallery, New York (1958) and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1965). She later received solo exhibitions at Ashiya City Museum of Art and History (2004), Galerie Almine Rech in Paris (2010), and Take Ninagawa in Tokyo (2013 and 2015). She is credited for being a "pivotal figure in the Japanese avant-garde movement." Eschewing figurative and literal representations, her early works often highlighted the specific chemical and physical properties of these materials, responding to Yoshihara's assertion that: 'Gutai Art does not alter matter [...] Gutai Art does not distort matter. In Gutai Art, the human spirit and matter shake hands with each other while keeping their distance. Matter never compromises itself with spirit; spirit never dominates matter.'

Reflective materials played a significant role in Yamazaki's early works. At 'The First Gutai Art Exhibition ' in 1955, Yamazaki displayed Tin Cans, a sculpture made from stacking some 25 tin cans on the floor of the exhibition space. The artist recycled the cans discarded by American servicemen in Osaka and varnished them fluorescent pink. The blurry reflections on the surface of the tins also viewers to contemplate the physical space.

At the same exhibition, Yamazaki also exhibited Work (1955), a large iron panel covered by black and white stripes. At the four edges of the panel, Yamazaki mounted small rectangular mirrors, which reflected viewers’ bodies and the exhibition space in fragments. The uninterrupted reflection challenged viewers to reconsider the very act of 'viewing' and viewing subjects' taken-for-granted control over art objects.

In another work, Three-Sided Mirror (1956), Yamazaki again used pink tinplate. The work consisted of thirty-six sheets of tinplate, which were assembled into three enormous reflective panels like a triptych mirror. Exhibited at the Outdoor Gutai Art Exhibition at Ashiya Park, the striking color of the tin triptych disrupted the harmonious greenery of the park. The tent was made of red vinyl sheets stretched over a wooden frame.

In 1957, Yamazaki pushed further her experiments with tinplate. At 'The 3rd Gutai Art Exhibition ' (1957), she showed a series of tinplate panels which she had hammered and perforated. For example, her 1956 article 'Extremely Interesting' discussed the importance of originality and creativity as the source of an 'interesting' life. Her involvement in children's art education continued until 2011.

Exhibition

Solo exhibitions 1963 - Gutai Pinacotheca, Osaka

1967 - Gallery Pettit Imabashi, Osaka

1973 - Fujimi Gallery, Osaka

1980 - Art Space, Nishinomiya

1995, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2009 - Lads Gallery, Osaka

1995 - Gallery Renaissance, Tokyo

2005 - Reflection: Tsuruko Yamazaki, Ashiya City Museum of Art & History

2007 - Gallery Cellar, Nagoya

2009 - Gallery Cellar, Tokyo

2010 - Tsuruko Yamazaki: Beyond Gutai 1957–2009, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris

Selected group exhibitions

1955- 1960 1955- Experimental Outdoor Exhibition of Modern Art to Challenge the Midsummer Sun, Ashiya Park, Hyogo

1955- 1st Gutai Art Exhibition, Ohara Hall, Tokyo

1956- Outdoor Gutai Art Exhibition, Ashiya Park, Hyogo

1956- 2nd Gutai Art Exhibition, Ohara Hall, Tokyo

1957- 3rd Gutai Art Exhibition, Kyoto Municipal Museum

1957- Gutai Art on the Stage, Sankei Hall, Osaka

1957- 4th Gutai Art Exhibition, Ohara Hall, Tokyo

1958- 5th Gutai Art Exhibition, Ohara Hall, Tokyo

1958- 2nd Gutai Art on the Stage, Sankei Hall, Osaka

1958- 6th Gutai Art Exhibition (Gutai New York Exhibition), Martha Jackson Gallery, New York and toured New England, Minneapolis, Oakland, and Huston

1959- 8th Gutai Art Exhibition, Kyoto Municipal Museum; Ohara Hall, Tokyo

1960- 9th Gutai Art Exhibition and International Sky Festival, Takashimaya Department Store, Osaka

1961-present 1961- Continuité et avant-garde au Japon, International Center for Aesthetic Research, Turin, 1961;

1965- Groupe Gutaï, Galerie Stadler, Paris,

1965- Nul 1965, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam,

1986- Japon des avant gardes, 1910–1970, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris,

1990- Unfinished Avant-Garde Art Group: With a Focus on the Collection of Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art, The Shōtō Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1990;

1992 and 1993 - Gutai I, II, III, Ashiya City Museum of Art & History

1993- The Gutai Group 1955−56: A Restarting Point for Japanese Contemporary Art, Penrose Institute of Contemporary Arts, Tokyo

1993- Venice Biennale

2004- The 50th Anniversary of Gutai Retrospective Exhibition, Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe

2009- Gutai: Painting with Time and Space, Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano, Switzerland

2009- Venice Biennale

2012- Gutai: The Spirit of an Era, The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2012