Ryuji Tanaka

Japanese artist Ryuji Tanaka (Japan, 1927-2014) joined the important avant-garde group Gutai Art Association for only two years, between 1965 and 1967. He was one of the best friends of Kazuo Shiraga, who introduced him to the leader of the Gutai movement, Jiro Yoshihara. This strong friendship influenced him a great deal. In the early 1960s, prior to his Gutai period, Tanaka produced a number of works with mineral pigments, often numbered and entitled Sei. He is one of the unique artists who practiced the techniques of traditional Japanese painting, nihon-ga. Instead of common oil paint, the nihon-ga technique is based on mineral pigments in different colours fixed with glue. In these mineral works, the material flashes and brightens up the darker background of the canvas. He used powder and stones, glue, lacquer and many of the traditional materials, but in a totally new and different way while developing his language of painting.

This publication is the first monograph on the work Ryuji Tanaka, published on the occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition at Axel Vervoordt Gallery in Antwerp that took place from 10 March until 30 April 2016. It shows unpublished historical photographic documentation, found in the artist’s personal archives and in the Gutai’s archives from the Osaka City Museum of Modern Art. The publication gives an overview of Tanaka’s body of work, and features extensive writings by Gutai connoisseurs Koichi Kawasaki, Shoichi Hirai and Alexandre Carel. This monograph, together with our exhibition, aim to contribute to the urgent need for scholarship on this lesser-known Gutai artist.

Published by Axel Vervoordt Gallery in collaboration with AsaMer, an imprint of MER. Paper Kunsthalle.