吉原治良

On January 1, 1905, Yoshihara Jirō was born in Ōkawa-cho, Higashi Ward, Osaka City (now Kitahama, Chūō Ward, Osaka City). His father, Sadajirō, manufactured and sold vegetable oils, and his mother, Ai, was her husband’s second wife, the first having died giving birth to their eldest son. Despite being the second son, Jirō was destined from a young age to take over the family business (traditionally inherited by the eldest son) after his older brother died from illness when Jirō was just eight. While attending Osaka Prefectural Kitano Junior High School (now Osaka Prefectural Kitano High School), he developed an interest in Post-Impressionist paintings by artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne, and began to teach himself oil painting. In 1924, he enrolled in the business college of Kwansei Gakuin University. He moved to the village of Seidō-mura, Muko-gun in Hyogo Prefecture (now Ashiya City) in 1926, and the following year, he joined the Gengetsu-kai painting club at Kwansei Gakuin. Around this time, he met Kamiyama Jirō, a Western-style painter also living in Seidō-mura, who taught him oil painting. He also gained various insights into the Paris art scene from Kamiyama, who had been active there until he returned to Japan upon hearing reports of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. In 1928, Yoshihara had his first solo exhibition at Osaka Asahi Hall, showing almost entirely fish-themed works and earning the nickname “the painter of fish.” Later that year, he joined the family business, Yoshihara Sadajirō Shōten (now J-Oil Mills, Inc.). The following year, Kamiyama Jirō introduced him to Foujita Tsuguharu, who had returned to Japan after 17 years abroad. Yoshihara sought Foujita’s opinion of his work, and when Foujita pointed out the evident influence of other artists, Yoshihara gained a strong awareness of the importance of originality. This experience paved the way for the eventual motto of the Gutai Art Association (referred to below as “Gutai”): “Don’t copy anyone else!” In 1932, Yoshihara became the head of the painting department at the Japanese branch of the Four Arts Society, a Russian association established in Osaka by Western-style painter Konishi Kenzō after he returned from studying in the Soviet Union. That same year, through Shibijutsusha, Yoshihara published “Ehon Suizokukan” (“Picture Book Aquarium”), a picture book heavily influenced by Russian children’s books (published by Sōgensha). In 1934, he once again met Foujita, who encouraged him to submit his work to the Nika Art Exhibition. In September, he submitted five Surrealist-style paintings reminiscent of Giorgio de Chirico, including “Woman with Morning Glories” (Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka), all of which were accepted at the 21st Nika Exhibition. In November, he held a solo exhibition at Kinokuniya Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo, making his debut in the nation’s capital as a promising avant-garde painter from the Kansai region. In 1935, Yoshihara Sadajirō Shōten was renamed Yoshihara Oil Mill, Ltd., and Yoshihara served as auditor for about 40 years until his death, continuously balancing the roles of businessman and artist. In 1937 he participated in the 24th Nika Exhibition for the first time in three years, showing abstract paintings including “Illustration” (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo) and received a special award. In 1938, he co-founded the Kyūshitsukai (Ninth Room Society) with other avant-garde artists from the Nika Association and became the head of its Osaka branch. He continued to participate in Nika and Kyūshitsukai exhibitions, while becoming a member of the Nika Association in 1941, until 1944, when the worsening war situation forced the dissolution of the Nika Association. After massive air raids on Osaka in March 1945, he evacuated to Kamiōzō-mura in Hyogo Prefecture (now Ōzō-chō, Kita Ward, Kobe City), and was there at the time of Japan’s war defeat. Soon afterward, Tōgō Seiji called on Yoshihara to help revive the Nika Association, and he took on the task of locating surviving members in the Kansai region and recruiting them for the reformed group. In October of the same year, he rejoined the Nika Association, and went on to serve as a director from 1961 until his departure in 1970. In 1946, Yoshihara joined Tensekikai (“Rolling Stone Society”), a gathering of Kansai cultural figures with the aesthetician Ijima Tsutomu in a leading role. Yoshihara also participated in the 1947 formation of the Pan-Art Association, a group of Kansai artists that transcended art association affiliations, and in September of the same year, he helped establish the Modern Artists Association of Nippon and became its secretary. The Ashiya City Art Association was founded in 1948, and he served as its representative and as a judge for the Ashiya City Art Exhibition (now the Ashiya City Exhibition) for the rest of his life. Around this time, his studio became a gathering place for young artists seeking guidance, laying the groundwork for the Gutai group. Yoshihara also acted as director and stage designer for theater, ballet, outdoor concerts, fashion shows, and Noh plays from this period until his later years. In 1951, Yoshihara received the Osaka Prefecture Art Award. Excited by contemporary Western abstract art that was introduced to Japan following the country’s reentry into the international community in 1952, he founded the Contemporary Art Discussion Group (known in Japanese as “Genbi” for short) with avant-garde artists from public open-call organizations in Kansai, aiming to explore new art from a comprehensive perspective that transcended group affiliations, genres, and generations. He participated in the formation of the Japan Abstract Art Club in June 1953, and that of the Art Club in July. Around this time, he interacted with avant-garde calligraphers from the Bokujinkai (“People of the Ink”) group, including Inoue Yūichi and Morita Shiryū. Their influence led him to shift dramatically from his postwar figurative paintings, featuring girls and birds, to abstract works making prominent use of line. In August 1954, Yoshihara Jirō led 16 young artists from the Hanshin area (extending between Osaka to Kobe) in forming Gutai. As the group’s leader, he established “Don’t copy anyone else!” as a credo calling on members to innovate. Publication of the group’s magazine, “Gutai,” commenced in January 1955. In July of that year, Yoshihara organized the Experimental Outdoor Exhibition of Modern Art to Challenge the Mid-summer Burning Sun in Ashiya Park. This exhibition featured many works that can be viewed as precursors to today’s installations, experiential art, technological works, and light art. In October, the 1st Gutai Art Exhibition was held at Ohara Hall in Tokyo. In May 1957, Yoshihara organized “Gutai Art Using the Stage” at Sankei Hall in Osaka, expanding the group’s range of media to include performance. This event was restaged in July at Sankei Hall in Tokyo. From the beginning, Yoshihara was dedicated to promoting Gutai in the Tokyo art scene and elevating its profile nationwide through media engagement and presentations in the capital region. However, despite his efforts, the response from critics in Tokyo was lukewarm. Gutai began to attract significant attention in September 1957, when the French freelance curator Michel Tapié visited Japan and praised the group’s activities. Tapié advocated “un art autre (another art),” a term he coined to distinguish new forms of abstraction, which had emerged concurrently across postwar Europe and the US, from earlier artistic movements. In his curated exhibitions and writings, he discussed this new abstraction in terms of “Informel (Informalism),” another one of his original concepts. “Un art autre” caused a sensation in Japan when it was first introduced in 1956, sparking an explosion of art that emphasized action and the physical properties of art materials throughout 1957, in what was referred to as the “Informel whirlwind.” For his part, Tapié sought to demonstrate that Informel was a concept applicable to postwar art outside of Europe and the US, turning his attention to Asia and particularly to Gutai, in which he became strongly interested after seeing the group’s magazine, “Gutai,” in Paris. Visiting Japan in the midst of this cross-cultural synergy, Tapié was impressed by the quality of Gutai works when viewing them in person in Osaka, and found a kindred spirit in Yoshihara, who had long aspired to expand the group’s activites overseas. Subsequently, the two collaborated on exhibitions in Japan (“The International Art of a New Era: Informel and Gutai” in 1958 and “The International Sky Festival” in 1960). They worked closely until 1965 to promote “un art autre” in Japan and to publicize Gutai in the West. As a result, Yoshihara’s own paintings evolved to emphasize action and materiality. In 1958, Yoshihara traveled to the US to prepare for a Gutai group show at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York, toured Europe, and returned to Japan two months later. In 1962 he renovated an old storehouse he owned on Nakanoshima, an island in the center of Osaka, establishing it as the Gutai Pinacotheca, a base for Gutai activities. He received the Hyogo Prefecture Cultural Award in 1963. In 1965, Gutai was invited to participate in an exhibition of ZERO, a group of Dutch and German artists, and Yoshihara made his second trip to Europe with his son, Michio, to prepare the venue in Amsterdam. Around this time, as new movements emerged from the US one after another, Yoshihara realized that Tapié’s concept of “un art autre” had become outdated, leading him to part ways with Tapié and rejuvenate Gutai by welcoming a large number of new members. In his own work, he moved away from the Informel style and, starting around 1963, evolved his signature motif of circles painted with a single stroke into hard-edged abstract paintings characterized by minimal materiality and clear-cut forms, which he began showing at Gutai art exhibitions. In 1967, Yoshihara held his first solo exhibition in approximately 30 years at Tokyo Gallery. His circle series became widely known within the art community, and were highly lauded for fusing the spare beauty of traditional Japanese linear art with the latest trends in American abstraction. The following year, his “White Circle” (Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama) was exhibited at the 9th Japan International Art Exhibition (Tokyo Biennale) and won a prize for domestic works, and in 1971, his “White on Black” (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) and “Black on White” (Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka) won gold medals at the 2nd Triennale-India. In 1969, Yoshihara was appointed as a specialist member of the Art Exhibition Committee for the Japan World Exposition (Osaka Expo, commonly known as Expo ’70 Osaka). He participated actively in the Expo ’70 Osaka both as an individual artist and with Gutai (in the Gutai group exhibition at the Midori Pavilion, the Gutai Art Festival in Omatsuri Hiroba [Festival Plaza], and the collaborative work “Garden on Garden” at the Expo Museum of Fine Arts at Expo ’70). In April 1970, the construction of a highway entrance forced the demolition of his family home on Nakanoshima, Osaka, and led to the closure of the adjacent Gutai Pinacotheca. Many of Gutai’s veteran members resigned after the Expo, but in October of the following year, Yoshihara opened Gutai Mini Pinacotheca, also on Nakanoshima, showing his determination to keep the group active. However, on January 18, 1972, Yoshihara collapsed from a subarachnoid hemorrhage while on the phone at his home in Ashiya City, and died on February 10 without having regained consciousness. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette. Gutai disbanded at the end of March 1972 following Yoshihara’s death. Yoshihara Jirō viewed innovation and originality as all-important, strictly demanding the pursuit of these values from both himself and the members of Gutai. He fully embraced Western-derived modernism, establishing himself as a rare Japanese artist who gained recognition in the Western art world in the early postwar era and was internationally active on an equal footing with his overseas counterparts. The 1980s saw critical reappraisal of Gutai in both the West and Japan, and Yoshihara’s extraordinary aesthetic sense, his foresight toward the global society of today, and the singular organizational skills that enabled him to lead a group of highly individualistic artists, were newly appreciated. The 1992 exhibition “Jiro Yoshihara” (Ashiya City Museum of Art and History and elsewhere), commemorating the artist on the 20th anniversary of his death, heralded the beginning of full-fledged research into his work, including the discovery of unpublished works and analysis of his artistic materials and sketches. Further retrospectives, such as the 2005 “Jiro Yoshihara: A Centenary Retrospective” (ATC Museum and elsewhere), made it clear that his artistic practice was underpinned both by his acquisition of the latest information on Western art, and by his own original research and ceaseless experimentation. (Hirai Shoichi / Translated by Christopher Stephens) (Published online: 2025-03-27)