NYAB Event - "Gutai: Film and Journal" Exhibition

"Gutai: Film and Journal" Exhibition

This event has ended.
At McCaffrey Fine Art
Media: Other, Film

1st Gutai Art Exhibition (1955)

McCaffrey Fine Art presents original news-reel footage of the first collective exhibition of the Gutai Art Association, held at Ohara Kaikan, Tokyo, in October 1955. Under the leadership of Jirō Yoshihara, the group's founder, the Gutai members were encouraged to present what can be called “performance painting”—their radically new reconceptualization of painting as performance. The film, shot by Mainichi Broadcasting System during a press preview, was previously thought to be lost or destroyed. This is the first public screening since 1955. Though only two and half minutes in length, it presents critical documentation of two seminal works: Kazuo Shiraga's iconic Challenging Mud (1955) and Saburo Murakami's hitherto little known version of Paper Breaking (1955). Also included are early and important works by Tsuroku Yamazaki, Yasuo Sumi, Sadamasa Motonaga, Akira Kanayama, and Shōzō Shimamoto. This unprecedented screening will run from February 2 through February 23, 2010.

The Gutai Journal (1954—1965)

In association with Geika Publishing, Tokyo, McCaffrey Fine Art is also proud to launch the newly published facsimile of the group's journal Gutai. Twelve volumes were published between 1955 and 1965 documenting and promoting Gutai's collective activities and individual members' works. Published in a limited edition of 200 copies and accompanied by a 13th volume containing previously unavailable English language translation and critical commentary, the Gutai facsimile provides invaluable access to rare source material on this revolutionary Japanese avant-garde group.

[Image: Kazuo Shiraga, Challenging Mud, 1955 (3rd execution). Created at 1st Gutai Art Exhibition, Ohara Kaikan, Tokyo. © Shiraga Fujiko and the former members of the Gutai Art Association; courtesy Ashiya City Museum of Art & History]