Lot Essay
Kayama Matazo was born in Kyoto to a family of artists. His father was a textile designer and his grandfather a painter of the Kano School. In 1944 Kayama graduated from the Japanese-painting division of the Kyoto Municipal School of Fine Arts and Crafts to enter the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He left school in 1945 to serve in the army and completed his education in 1949.
In 1953 Kayama won the New Artist Award in the 17th Shin-Seisaku Kyokai (New Creation Association) exhibition and he showed his work regularly with this artists' society. He was also associated with the Hikobayu and Todoroki-kai groups in the 1950s. Frequently represented in the Contemporary Japanese Art exhibition sponsored by the Mainichi Newspaper, in 1957 he won a group award at the 2nd Guggenheim International exhibition in New York along with Kawabata Minoru (b. 1911) and Yamaguchi Takeo (1902-1983). He has had one-man exhibitions at the Yoseido Gallery and the Tokyo Gallery both in 1955, at the Janet Nessler Gallery in New York in 1961, at the Murakoshi Gallery in Tokyo and the Kansai Gallery in Osaka in 1963. He created a ceramic mural piece for the Taiseki-ji Temple in Fujinomiya City in 1964.
In 1967 Kayama was in a group exhibition Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Painting that traveled to the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad and to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. In 1974 he designed a stone pagoda at the Jindai-ji Temple and in 1975 he had a one-man exhibition at the Seibu Department Store in Tokyo. He has received numerous commissions that include murals for Yamatane Securities in Osaka, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the Japanese Embassy in the United States, the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, and 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. Other solo shows have been at the Fukuoka Municipal Art Museum, at the Seibu Museum in Tokyo in 1986, and at Takashimaya department stores in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, and Osaka in 1988.
Kayama taught painting at Tama University of Fine Arts from 1966-77, and from 1978-88, when he joined the faculty of the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. He has traveled, exhibited, and lectured in China often, beginning in 1960 and most recently in 1987 as a member of the Japanese Artists Delegation. In 1973 he won the Japan Art Award and in 1980 he was honored as the recipient of the Cultural Ministry Award.
The painting offered here belongs to series of bird and animal pictures that Kayama began in the 1950s. He found this subject rich in "fantasies and mysteries". A similar 1965 painting of cats, comparable in size, is illustrated in Matazo Kayama, Shorewood (Connecticut 1990), pl. 90.
In 1953 Kayama won the New Artist Award in the 17th Shin-Seisaku Kyokai (New Creation Association) exhibition and he showed his work regularly with this artists' society. He was also associated with the Hikobayu and Todoroki-kai groups in the 1950s. Frequently represented in the Contemporary Japanese Art exhibition sponsored by the Mainichi Newspaper, in 1957 he won a group award at the 2nd Guggenheim International exhibition in New York along with Kawabata Minoru (b. 1911) and Yamaguchi Takeo (1902-1983). He has had one-man exhibitions at the Yoseido Gallery and the Tokyo Gallery both in 1955, at the Janet Nessler Gallery in New York in 1961, at the Murakoshi Gallery in Tokyo and the Kansai Gallery in Osaka in 1963. He created a ceramic mural piece for the Taiseki-ji Temple in Fujinomiya City in 1964.
In 1967 Kayama was in a group exhibition Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Painting that traveled to the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad and to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. In 1974 he designed a stone pagoda at the Jindai-ji Temple and in 1975 he had a one-man exhibition at the Seibu Department Store in Tokyo. He has received numerous commissions that include murals for Yamatane Securities in Osaka, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the Japanese Embassy in the United States, the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, and 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. Other solo shows have been at the Fukuoka Municipal Art Museum, at the Seibu Museum in Tokyo in 1986, and at Takashimaya department stores in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, and Osaka in 1988.
Kayama taught painting at Tama University of Fine Arts from 1966-77, and from 1978-88, when he joined the faculty of the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. He has traveled, exhibited, and lectured in China often, beginning in 1960 and most recently in 1987 as a member of the Japanese Artists Delegation. In 1973 he won the Japan Art Award and in 1980 he was honored as the recipient of the Cultural Ministry Award.
The painting offered here belongs to series of bird and animal pictures that Kayama began in the 1950s. He found this subject rich in "fantasies and mysteries". A similar 1965 painting of cats, comparable in size, is illustrated in Matazo Kayama, Shorewood (Connecticut 1990), pl. 90.