CHIYU UEMAE

Chiyu Uemae was born in Kyoto in 1920. He was part of the Gutai Art Association Group and created his unique world as an abstract artist. Experiencing various jobs, such as a crane operator and an apprentice at a traditional dyeing factory in Kyoto, Uemae studied Chinese ‘Nan-ga’ then shifts to oil painting. In 1953, Uemae met Yoshihara, and since then, Uemae has taken part in every Gutai exhibition until its dissolution. Uemae's artistic creations encompass a wide range of mediums, including two-dimensional works characterised by pattern accumulation achieved through the use of painting knives or delicate stitching, as well as sculptural pieces crafted from wood or sawdust. These diverse expressions are rooted in his formative experiences during adolescence. He used traditional Japanese colours exclusively or combined them according to Japanese artistic traditions. Uemae expertly blended tradition and originality into a single style.

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50 Years Since the End | The Gutai Art Association as seen at the National Museum of Art, Osaka

January 4, 2023
ART NEWS

50 Years Since the End | The Gutai Art Association Revives at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka

December 27, 2022
ART NEWS

“Into the Unknown World — GUTAI: Differentiation and Integration” at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art and the National Museum of Art

October 19, 2022
Osaka, Japan

Active Artist Passing the Age of Ninety | Interview with Chiyu Uemae

GUTAI STILL ALIVE 2015 vol.1
05/35

Chiyu Uemae’s Creative Endeavors as the Oldest Witness to Gutai’s Founding and Dissolution

GUTAI STILL ALIVE 2015 vol.1
04/35

Art Historian Kunio Motoe’s Take On the “Gutai Art Association”

GUTAI STILL ALIVE 2015 vol.1
01/35

COLLECTIONS

Ashiya City Museum of Art & History / Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art / Osaka Contemporary Art Center / Osaka Municipal Museum of Modern Art / The National Museum of Art, Osaka / Itabashi Art Museum / Niigata Art Museum / Fukuoka Art Museum / Kitakyushu Art Museum / International Print Museum in Machida, Tokyo Municipal Administration Memorial of Maizuru City Musée d'art / modern et contemporain, Toulouse (France) The Miyagi Museum of Art / Chiba City Museum of Art / Nerima Art Museum / Yokohama Museum of Art / The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama / Old Hyogo Prefectural Office Building / Fukui Fine Art Museum / The Tokushima Modern Art Museum / The Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, Texas

Untitled, 1960s, Mixedmedia on board

South Temple, 1963, Oil on canvas

Untitled, 1971-72, Oil on board

Untitled, 1973

Untitled, 1985

Work, 1970-1990, Oil on canvas

2018: TEFAF TWENTY, Fergus McCaffrey, New York
2017: Gutai & The Japanese Avant-Garde: Small Painting and Drawings 1958-1996, W. Alxander, Brooklyn
Impasto: The Gestural and Sensuous in Japanese Abstract Paintings, SAKURADO FINE ARTS, Tokyo
Gutai Spirit, H.ARTS COLLECTIVE, Singapore
2016: Gutai: Selected Small Works, Whitestone Gallery, Hong Kong
Gallery Collection: GUTAI Group Show, Whitestone Gallery, Hong Kong
2015: Exhibition "Chiyu Uemae- A Solitary Path", Whitestone Gallery Hong Kong
Gallery Collection, Whitestone Gallery, Hong Kong
gutai, de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong
2014: Exhibition "Gutaijin in Karuizawa", Karuizawa New Art Museum
2013: Exhibition “GUTAI: Splendid Playground,” at The Guggenheim Museum, New York
Chiyu Uemae Special Exhibition at The Armory Show Modern 2013, Pier 92 (Booth 454)
2012: Exhibition “Wind of Karuizawa” - 19 Uemae works, at Karuizawa New Art Museum, Karuizawa
Exhibition “GUTAI: The Spirit of an Era,” at The National Art Center, Tokyo
Exhibition “Destroying the Picture - Painting the Void: 1949-1962,” at Los Angeles MOCA
Chiyu Uemae Special Exhibition at Los Angeles Art Platform 2012
The Solo Exhibition “Chiyu Uemae – Jigado”, at BB Plaza Museum of Art, Kobe
2011: Exhibition “Chiyu Uemae,” at Galllery LADS, Osaka
2010: Exhibition “Chiyu Uemae,” at Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum
2009: Exhibition “Museum Collection 2009-1,” at The Tokushima Modern Art Museum
2008: Exhibition “Gutai to Contemporary” at Gallery LADS, Osaka
Exhibition “GUTAI and after” at DOKA Contemporary Arts, Tokyo
Exhibition of 3 Artists at Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Mie
Exhibition “Dots Talk : UEMAE Chiyu, YAMANAKA Yoshikazu, TSUBOTA Masahiko,” at Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama
2007: Exhibition of New Prints at Gallery LADS, Osaka
Collection of The National Museum of Art, Osaka
2006: Exhibition “World of Chiyu Uemae” at CASO Museum, Osaka
2005: Exhibition “Chiyu Uemae and GUTAI Art Association” at Fukuoka Art Museum
2004: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, ‘GUTAI 1954-1972’, Kobe,
Japan National Museum of Modern Art, ‘Traces: Body and Idea in Contemporary Art’, kyoto, Japan (Travelling Exhibition)
2002: Solo exhibition: Print (silkscreen) (LADS Gallery, Osaka)
Solo exhibition: Print (etching) (Gallery MAYA, Takatsuki)
2001: Solo exhibition of Print works (Gallery 1100, New York)
Solo exhibition of Stitch (Itami Civic Craft Center)
Solo exhibition of Print (Gallery Kuranuki Osaka)
2000: Solo exhibition for the memory of “Kobekko Award: Dark-blue Ribbon Medal, Cultural Achievement Award from the Governor of Hyogo Prefecture (Kobe)
1999: Gutai Exhibition in Paris (Galerie Nationale du jeu de Paume, Paris France)
61 works went to Osaka Prefectural Public Collection after solo exhibition hold by the prefecture
Solo exhibition at Maizuru Municipal Administration Memorial Museum planned by Komei Shimizu
1997: Contemporary Stitch Japan Style (Montclair State University, USA)
1996: The Year of Avant-Garde Artists: Change and Continuity (Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo)
1995: Publication at author’s own expense “Koritsu no Michi” (Collected works: An Independent Path)
1991: Avant-Garde Japan: The Gutai Group in 1950s (Rome National Museum of Modern Art, Italy)
1989: Maboroshi no Yamamura Collection exhibition (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kobe)
1985: The Exhibition of the Storm of Painting in 1950-60: Informel/Gutai/Cobra (The National Museum of Art, Osaka)
Publication at author’s own expense “Jigado” (Personal Artistic Way)
1983: Solo exhibition “Ink Painting” and “Print-works” at Contemporary Art Center (Osaka)
1982: Solo exhibition “Oil painting and Stitch” at Contemporary Art Center (Osaka)
1976: Since around this year began producing stitching art Participated in Ge Exhibition, withdrew in 2002
1970: Gutai Art Exhibition at Expo’70, Midori-kan Entrance Hall (Osaka)
1966: Second International Art Exhibition in Lausanne, Switzerland (major work 162×130 cm was purchased)
1958: World Exhibition of New Art (given favourable comment by Mr. Michel Tapie) Gutai Art Exhibition in New York
1954: Participated in the formation of the Gutai Art Association (dissolved in 1972)
1953: Study under Jiro Yoshihara
1951: First Solo Exhibition
1947: Sent works to 1st Niki Group Exhibition
1932-38: Apprenticed to Kyoto Dyeing orchestrator, also to banner-dyeing shop to learn the usage of resist paste. Self-educated illustrating, portrait painting, the southern school of Chinese Painting
1920: Born in Kyoto Prefecture

CHIYU UEMAE

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