A Centennial Exhibition INOUE Yuichi / 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa | 2 January – 21 March 2016 | 207 works. Kami Ya was involved from the planning stage of this exhibition, the largest retrospective of Yu-ichi Inoue held to date.

Exhibition Overview

Dates: 2 January (Sat) – 21 March (Mon), 2016　*Works were rotated during the exhibition period

Venue: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Galleries 7–12 and 14)

Works exhibited: 207

Attendance: 137,547

Organiser: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

Cooperation: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto / UNAC TOKYO Co., Ltd.

Curator: Yuji Akimoto (then Director, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa)

Artist: Yu-ichi Inoue (1916–1985)

Catalogue: Yu-ichi Inoue 1955–1985.
Published by the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and the Kamimori Foundation, 2016
29.8 × 23.5 cm, 395 pages, ¥3,000 + tax　ISBN 978-4-9908732-0-2

Significance of the Exhibition

The largest retrospective of Yu-ichi Inoue to date

The previous largest retrospective, YU-ICHI works 1955-85, was held in 1989 at The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and subsequently toured to other venues, comprising 107 works. With 207 works, this exhibition nearly doubled that number, presenting a definitive overview from his earliest pieces to his final years.

Museum holdings and privately held works

Thirty-one works were drawn from the collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, shown alongside major works including Gutetsu 愚徹 from the National Museum of Art, Osaka, and Tokyo Air Raid 東京大空襲 and Ah, Yokokawa National School 噫横川國民學校 from the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma. To these was added a substantial group of important privately held works that had rarely been exhibited.

Large-scale works in a gallery twelve metres high

A series of single-character works was installed continuously across the large gallery, on a scale without precedent for an exhibition of calligraphy. Major large-scale works were also shown, including a fourteen-metre charcoal transcription of the complete text of Miyazawa Kenji's The Bears of Mt. Nametoko, and a scroll of approximately thirty metres copying the calligraphy of Yan Zhenqing.

Selected Works

The works date from 1955 to 1985, spanning the full thirty years of Yu-ichi Inoue's career. The exhibition occupied Galleries 7–12 and 14, with works rotated during the exhibition period.

Gutetsu 愚徹, 1956

Ink on paper, 187 × 178 cm｜The National Museum of Art, Osaka

Hin (Poverty) 貧, 1972

Ink and glue on Japanese paper, 125 × 180 cm｜The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

Tokyo Air Raid 東京大空襲, 1978

Ink on paper, 188 × 71 cm each｜The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma

Ah, Yokokawa National School 噫横川國民學校, 1978

Ink on paper, 145 × 244 cm｜The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma

Kaeru Tanjosai, a poem by Kusano Shimpei 草野心平詩　蛙誕生祭, 1983

32 × 55 cm｜Private collection

Ue (Above) 上, 1984

Ink and glue on Japanese paper, 137 × 180 cm｜Private collection

The Bears of Mt. Nametoko, a tale by Miyazawa Kenji 宮沢賢治童話　なめとこ山の熊, 1985

Charcoal, approx. 14 m in total length｜Private collection

Kokoro (Heart) 心, 1985, his final work

Ink and glue on Japanese paper, 143 × 182 cm｜Private collection

Related Programmes

9 January｜Opening lectures: "Yu-ichi Inoue: Calligraphy is an Art for Everyone" / "Reading Yu-ichi Inoue's Works: Object, Character, Onomatopoeia"

　Masaomi Unagami / Takayuki Kurimoto

29 January｜Evening gallery tour for members of the museum's Friends programme

　Yuji Akimoto

13 February｜Centennial conversation on Yu-ichi Inoue

　Toru Haga × Masaomi Unagami

14 February｜Centennial tea gathering (Shotoan)

　Host: Masaomi Unagami

28 February｜Workshop: "Big Brush, Big Characters — Take on Yu-ichi Inoue!"

　Otomaru Kitami

13 March｜Lecture: "The Brush and the Treader — Yu-ichi Inoue and Miyazawa Kenji"

　Ryuta Imafuku

14 February 2016 marked the centenary of Yu-ichi Inoue's birth. The conversation was held the day before, and the tea gathering on the day itself. The workshop invited children to write with large brushes on large sheets of paper.

About Yu-ichi Inoue

Yu-ichi Inoue (1916–1985) was a leading figure in postwar Japanese contemporary art. Working with paper and ink, he brought calligraphy into the context of contemporary art as a form of individual expression. He continued to produce work throughout a forty-one-year career as a schoolteacher, and was among the very few Japanese artists to gain international recognition at such an early stage.

Biography of Yu-ichi Inoue