Heimen (Plane)

Yamaguchi was born in Seoul in 1902, and studied western painting at the Tokyo Art School from 1922 to 1927, before moving to Paris in 1927 to continue his education. He moved back to Seoul in the 1930s and was invited every year to exhibit by the Nika Association, one of Japan’s most important avant-garde art groups during the pre-war period. A few years later, he formed the Kyu-shitsu Kai (Ninth Room Association) to promote the growth of avant-garde abstract art in Southeast Asia with other cutting-edge artists such as Jiro Yoshihara, the founder of the Gutai school, and Yoshishige Saito, who taught the founder of the Mono-ha school. Yamaguchi had already earned worldwide renown by the 1950s, making a name for himself among other abstract art masters in the west during the post-war period; his works were always well-recognized, including by the Sao Paolo Art Biennale (twice in 1955 and 1963), La Biennale di Venezia (1956), the Guggenheim Museum (1958), and New York’s Museum of Modern Art (1964). Over the two decades between 1954 and 1974, he taught as a beloved professor at Tokyo’s Musashino Art University, and mentored countless students who went on to become stars in Asian art. Kim Whanki, for instance, never forgot Yamaguchi’s generosity when he gave Kim paintbrushes, paint, and canvas to support his painting; and Lee Ufan also spoke openly of how the development of his artistic philosophy was greatly influenced by Yamaguchi.