NAMBATA Tatsuoki | Tokyo Operacity Art Gallery

Symphony of Life - Creation and Development of Japanese Abstraction

nanbata tatsuoki

1999.12.9 [Fri] - 2000.2.20 [Sun]

NAMBATA Tatsuoki (1905 to 1997) is considered to be one of the attainments of Japanese abstract expressionism, a genre brimming with Japanese poetical sentiment. This exhibition brings together representative works spanning the period from his earliest days as an artist until the final years. Approximately 80 oils, 80 watercolors and 50 prints are exhibited together, giving the chance to gain a perspective of his whole working life.

The Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery holds the Terada Collection, the largest collection of NAMBATA Tatsuoki's works. This exhibition pivots around a selection of 30 oil paintings and 100 watercolors and prints from the more than 300 pieces in the Terada Collection, augmented with representative Tatsuoki works brought from other Museums.

NAMBATA Tatsuoki was active as an artist for more than 70 years, but maintained his consistently earnest approach right to the end. In a dialog with his inner self that lasted all his life, he sought to bring out the potential of abstract expression overflowing with Japanese sentiment. The bright and vibrant abstract world he created was only possible because one individual devoted his life to it. It is is full of sparkle, like a crystallization of his soul. That sparkle is upheld by Tatsuoki's thorough adherence to the tone and form he used to convey his art to the canvas.

Profile of NAMBATA Tatsuoki

1905	Born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido and moved to Tokyo with his family in the following year
1924	Visiting the studio of Kotaro Takamura. The relationship continued until Takamura's death in1956
1926	Entered Waseda University, Department of Political Science and Economics
1929	Exhibited in the 4th Kokugakai Exhibition
1935	Founded the FORM exhibition group with five members
1937	Participated in the founding of the Free Artists' Association (left in 1959)
1942	First solo exhibition at Seiju-sha Gallery
1950	Continuously exhibited works in many group shows including the Japan Independent Exhibition, Asahi Outstanding Works Exhibition, Mainichi Contemporary Art Exhibition, Japan International Art Exhibition
1961	Founded the Hokusho-kai group with eight members from Hokkaido
1973	His works were included in Development of Postwar Japanese Art - Abstract and Non-figurative at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1974	His second son, Fumio died in the sea of Setonaikai at the age of 32Tatsuoki NAMBATA - Self-selected works at Fuji Television Gallery
1977	Tatsuoki NAMBATA - Recent Works at Fuji Television Gallery
1982	Tatsuoki NAMBATA retrospective at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo and the Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Modern Art, Asahikawa
1987	Tatsuoki NAMBATA solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1988	Won the 29th Mainich Art Award
1989	Recent works on paper at Ginza Art Center
1994	Tatsuoki NAMBATA: Works since after 1954 - Development of Abstraction, Echo of Life at the Setagaya Museum of Art
1995	Won the Hokkaido Newspaper Culture Award
1996	Awarded the "Person of Cultural Merits" from the Ministry of Education
1997	Died at the age of 92 in a hospital in Setagaya-ward in November

NAMBATA Tatsuoki FPerson and Paintings

The impetus for Tatsuoki to start painting came from a meeting with poet and sculptor Kotaro Takamura. While in high school, Tatsuoki lived close to Kotaro's studio, and started to take his poems to show Kotaro. At this point he was very strongly influenced by Kotaro's way of living and sense for craft and art, and decided to become a painter himself.

Although Tatsuoki had Takamura Kotaro, and for a brief period Kawashima Riichiro, as mentors, his study of painting was nearly all self-taught, and he retained his independent spirit throughout his more than 70 years as a painter. Although unfettered by restrictions, Tatsuoki was rigorous in his pursuit of color and shape, establishing an original abstract painting genre that did not exist in the West.

"Votive Relief"
oil on canvas/72.7*90.9cm
1935

"My Palette"
oil on canvas/37.5*45.0cm
1953

"Rhapsody"
oil, enamel on canvas/
130.3*162.1cm
1962

NAMBATA Tatsuoki's paintings are known for the feeling that they contain music. Minute variations in tone are like a melody building up layer after layer, giving an effect resembling a musical fugue or canon. The liveliness of hues that change from moment to moment overflows from his paintings, sometimes accompanying a jazz-like rhythm. Takamura Kotaro described the tones in Tatsuoki's paintings as producing a tactile sensation. You can sense the presence of the different hues, hues so solid you can almost hold them in your hand. The use of a polyphony of colors stands up to become a thing of real beauty. This is what gives Tatsuoki's work its original and vibrant style. Towards the end of his life, the "Diary in Hospital" series of works drawn after he became bedridden are powerful works, overlapping many different fiber-tip colors on the paper. Using the fiber pens' strength of color, he overlapped the different colors to create breathtakingly contemporary pieces.

The message in NAMBATA Tatsuoki's paintings is one that stimulates the viewer's receptivity, helping you to rediscover your own senses.

"Lyric of Blue"
oil on canvas/130.3*162.1cm
1962

"Shadow of May"
oil on canvas/100.0*80.0cm
1974

"Dawn"
oil on canvas/130.0*162.1cm
1991

Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery is designed for the exhibition of contemporary art, and the current exhibition is arranged to bring out the contemporary art aspects of Tatsuoki's paintings. All decorations are eliminated from the white exhibition space, where an abundance of natural light and a 6-meter height make the room very light. We hope that you will be able to discover anew the distance between yourself and the paintings as you view NAMBATA Tatsuoki's abstract paintings in this environment.

"Records of Life 3" oil on canvas/162.1*390.9cm 1994

Abstract art brings back our fancies and our imaginations. It opens the hearts and minds of people clinging only onto what they can see; opening them to a wider world, a world we cannot see with just our eyes.
- NAMBATA Tatsuoki -

Information

Dates: Friday 3 December, 1999 - Sunday 20 February, 2000
Closed: Mondays (Tuesday if the Monday is a public holiday), 29th December to 4th January, 13th February.
Opening Hours: 12:00 - 20:00 (to 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, entry up to 30 minutes before closing)
Admission: Ordinary:1,000 yen (800 yen), College and high school students: 800 yen (600 yen), Junior high and elementary school students: 500 yen (400 yen), Children below school age: free Amounts in brackets ( ) are group rates.
Organizered by the Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation and The Yomiuri Shimbun
Supported by Nippon Life Insurance Company, NTT Urban Development and Odakyu Department Store
Cooperated by Yamadai Tetsusho
Patronized by the Agency of Cultural Affairs

For further information: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery Tel. +81-3-5353-0756