Lot Essay
Kayama Matazo was born in Kyoto to a family of artists. His father was a designer of kimono textiles for Nishijinori fabrics and his grandfather was a Kano school painter. In 1944 Kayama graduated from the Japanese painting department of the Kyoto Municipal School of Fine Art and Crafts and entered the Tokyo School of Fine Arts where he met Kobayashi Kokei (1883-1957) who was a professor there (see lot 1). He left school in 1945 to serve in the war and completed his formal education in 1949. He also studied with Yamamoto Kyujin (1900-1986).
In the 1950s Kayama incorporated elements of cubism, Italian futurism, and serial imagery in works depicting birds and animals. In 1962 he wrote that he painted animal and bird motifs because "they provide us with many fantasies and mysteries." Referring to his use of pictorial space in these works he wished to express "its dual characteristic -- active and filled with life on one hand, and on the other, symbolizing an eternal immovability." A further development that influenced his work of the next three decades took place in 1965 when Kayama began to copy, then reinvent, traditional Japanese screen painting. By allowing his own sensibility to transform an established art form, he created a unique visual language.
In 1953 Kayama won the New Artist Award in the 17th Shin-Seisaku Kyokai exhibition. The Shin-Seisaku Kyokai (the New Creation Association) is an artists' association that held yearly exhibitions and was composed of painters, sculptors and architects. Kayama was closely involved with this organization and showed his work regularly in its exhibitions. Other artists' societies with which he has exhibited over the years are the Hikobayu beginning in 1954, and the Todoroki-kai starting in 1959. Kayama has been represented frequently in the Contemporary Japanese Art exhibitions sponsored by the Mainichi Newspaper. In 1957 he won a group award at the 2nd Guggenheim International Art exhibition in New York along with Kawabata Minoru (b. 1911, see lots 22 and 30), and Yamaguchi Takeo (1902-1983). He had one-man exhibitions in Tokyo at the Yoseido Gallery and at the Tokyo Gallery in 1955, the Janet Nessler Gallery in New York in 1961, and at the Murakoshi Gallery in Tokyo and the Kansai Gallery in Osaka in 1963. The following year he designed a ceramic mural for the Taiseki-ji Temple in Fujinomiya City.
In 1967 Kayama was respresented in Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Painting at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. At the Jindai-ji Temple in 1974, he designed a stone pagoda as a monument to his friend and colleague Yokoyama Misao who died the year before. In 1975 he had a one-man exhibition at the Seibu Department Store in Tokyo and in the late 1970s he created a ceramic mural for Yamatane Securities in Osaka, another for the Nihon Keizai Shinbun, and a commission for the Japanese Embassy in the United States. In 1978 he completed a group of wall paintings for the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art and in 1983 he was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the main hall of the Kuon-Ji Temple, the center of Nichiren Buddhism. In 1979 he had one-man exhibitions at the Murakoshi and Uchiyama Galleries in Tokyo, and in 1982 an exhibition entitled Matazo Kayama 1982 was held at the Tokyo Central Museum of Art. Among other one-man exhibitions are those at the Fukuoka Municipal Art Museum, at the Seibu Museum in Tokyo, in 1986, and in 1988 at Takashimaya stores in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto and Osaka.
Kayama has traveled, exhibited, and lectured in China often, first in 1960 as part of the Japan/China Cultural Exchange Program, and later as a member of the Japanese Artists Delegation in 1975, 1981, 1983, and 1987. He taught painting at Tama University of Fine Arts from 1966-77 and from 1978-88. He joined the faculty of the Tokyo University of Fine Arts in 1988. In 1973 Kayama won the Japan Art Award and in 1980 he received the Cultural Ministry Award.
A later version of this painting is illustrated in Matazo Kayama, Shorewood (Connecticut) 1990, pl. 86.
In the 1950s Kayama incorporated elements of cubism, Italian futurism, and serial imagery in works depicting birds and animals. In 1962 he wrote that he painted animal and bird motifs because "they provide us with many fantasies and mysteries." Referring to his use of pictorial space in these works he wished to express "its dual characteristic -- active and filled with life on one hand, and on the other, symbolizing an eternal immovability." A further development that influenced his work of the next three decades took place in 1965 when Kayama began to copy, then reinvent, traditional Japanese screen painting. By allowing his own sensibility to transform an established art form, he created a unique visual language.
In 1953 Kayama won the New Artist Award in the 17th Shin-Seisaku Kyokai exhibition. The Shin-Seisaku Kyokai (the New Creation Association) is an artists' association that held yearly exhibitions and was composed of painters, sculptors and architects. Kayama was closely involved with this organization and showed his work regularly in its exhibitions. Other artists' societies with which he has exhibited over the years are the Hikobayu beginning in 1954, and the Todoroki-kai starting in 1959. Kayama has been represented frequently in the Contemporary Japanese Art exhibitions sponsored by the Mainichi Newspaper. In 1957 he won a group award at the 2nd Guggenheim International Art exhibition in New York along with Kawabata Minoru (b. 1911, see lots 22 and 30), and Yamaguchi Takeo (1902-1983). He had one-man exhibitions in Tokyo at the Yoseido Gallery and at the Tokyo Gallery in 1955, the Janet Nessler Gallery in New York in 1961, and at the Murakoshi Gallery in Tokyo and the Kansai Gallery in Osaka in 1963. The following year he designed a ceramic mural for the Taiseki-ji Temple in Fujinomiya City.
In 1967 Kayama was respresented in Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Painting at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. At the Jindai-ji Temple in 1974, he designed a stone pagoda as a monument to his friend and colleague Yokoyama Misao who died the year before. In 1975 he had a one-man exhibition at the Seibu Department Store in Tokyo and in the late 1970s he created a ceramic mural for Yamatane Securities in Osaka, another for the Nihon Keizai Shinbun, and a commission for the Japanese Embassy in the United States. In 1978 he completed a group of wall paintings for the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art and in 1983 he was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the main hall of the Kuon-Ji Temple, the center of Nichiren Buddhism. In 1979 he had one-man exhibitions at the Murakoshi and Uchiyama Galleries in Tokyo, and in 1982 an exhibition entitled Matazo Kayama 1982 was held at the Tokyo Central Museum of Art. Among other one-man exhibitions are those at the Fukuoka Municipal Art Museum, at the Seibu Museum in Tokyo, in 1986, and in 1988 at Takashimaya stores in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto and Osaka.
Kayama has traveled, exhibited, and lectured in China often, first in 1960 as part of the Japan/China Cultural Exchange Program, and later as a member of the Japanese Artists Delegation in 1975, 1981, 1983, and 1987. He taught painting at Tama University of Fine Arts from 1966-77 and from 1978-88. He joined the faculty of the Tokyo University of Fine Arts in 1988. In 1973 Kayama won the Japan Art Award and in 1980 he received the Cultural Ministry Award.
A later version of this painting is illustrated in Matazo Kayama, Shorewood (Connecticut) 1990, pl. 86.