Gutai group

also: Gutai Art Association · Gutai Bijutsu Kyōkai

movement 1954-1972 Japan Asia

The Gutai Art Association was founded in Ashiya, near Osaka, in 1954 by young artists led by the painter Jirō Yoshihara, and dissolved after his death in 1972. Its 1956 manifesto declared that Gutai art 'imparts life to matter' without distorting it - spirit and material 'shake hands while keeping their distance'. In practice that meant experiments no one had tried: Kazuo Shiraga wrestling mud and painting with his feet, Shōzō Shimamoto hurling paint from bottles and cannons, Saburō Murakami bursting through paper screens, Atsuko Tanaka wiring dresses of glowing bulbs. Works appeared in parks, in a one-day show among bombed factory ruins, on stage, and in the group's lavish Gutai journal, which reached correspondents from Jackson Pollock to Allan Kaprow. Shown in New York from 1958 and Amsterdam in 1965, Gutai anticipated performance, happening and installation art.

The Tribuna of the Uffizi (Zoffany)
The Tribuna of the Uffizi (Zoffany)Public domain (credit: Johann Zoffany) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Matter treated as a collaborator: paint, mud, water, glass and paper left to behave as themselves
  • The artist's body as instrument - wrestling, tearing, shooting, walking through materials
  • Traces of violent, time-bound action preserved as the finished image
  • Unconventional formats: outdoor installations, stage shows, walk-through environments, mailed postcards
  • Raw material color - poured enamel, tinted water, electric light - rather than a composed palette
  • Shared demand for novelty across members: no house style, only 'create what has never been done before'

Key figures

  • Jirō Yoshihara (1905-1972) — Founder and mentor whose manifesto and call for constant novelty defined the group
  • Kazuo Shiraga (1924-2008) — Foot painter who wrestled mud and swung from ropes above his canvases
  • Atsuko Tanaka (1932-2005) — Maker of the Electric Dress and performances of layered, wired clothing
  • Shōzō Shimamoto (1928-2013) — Co-founder who smashed bottles of paint and shot paint from cannons
  • Saburō Murakami (1925-1996) — Tore and burst through paper screens with his body

Example works

  • Challenging Mud — Kazuo Shiraga (1955)
  • 6 Holes — Saburō Murakami (1955)
  • Electric Dress — Atsuko Tanaka (1956)

Sources

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