Kenju forests
YUICHI INOUE
Mixed media
38.0 × 75.0cm
38.0 × 75.0cm
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PROFILE
YUICHI INOUE
YUICHI INOUE
Yuichi Inoue was a Japanese avant-garde calligrapher who embodied the self-discipline and experimental spirit of Japan's early post-war decades. Inoue received his training under the renowned calligrapher Sokyu Ueda and, for a period, experimented with total abandonment of sho (calligraphy) conventions. He emerged as one of the prominent figures among a generation of avant-garde Japanese artists who gained national and international recognition in the post-war era following the collapse of the conservative value system. Inoue and other like-minded artists, established the influential 'Bokujin-kai' in 1952.
The 'One character' calligraphy style is a characteristic feature of Inoue's art. This artistic expression serves to reaffirm calligraphy as an art form, countering Western culture’s exclusion of it from the realm of art since its introduction to Japan during the modern period. Inoue’s works exude a strong sense of vitality that captivates the viewer, presenting them in a simple yet bold manner. His use of ink, which allows for the expression of myriad achromatic tones, and his unconventional and original techniques are regarded as a 'new artistic expression', akin to the impact created by Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel during the same period.
As a result, Inoue developed an innovative form of sho that would contend with the widespread Euro-American Abstract Expressionism. His works were featured in several significant exhibitions, including the 1954 Japanese Calligraphy exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A year later, he participated in the Abstract Painting: Japan and the U.S. exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo as well as the L'encre de Chine dans la calligraphie et l'art japonais contemporains exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (which toured five cities). In addition, Inoue's works received acclaim and recognition at Documenta II in Kassel (Germany) and Carnegie International in New York. Finally, to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of Inoue's birth, the Kanazawa 21st Century Museum held a large-scale retrospective exhibition in 2016.
The 'One character' calligraphy style is a characteristic feature of Inoue's art. This artistic expression serves to reaffirm calligraphy as an art form, countering Western culture’s exclusion of it from the realm of art since its introduction to Japan during the modern period. Inoue’s works exude a strong sense of vitality that captivates the viewer, presenting them in a simple yet bold manner. His use of ink, which allows for the expression of myriad achromatic tones, and his unconventional and original techniques are regarded as a 'new artistic expression', akin to the impact created by Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel during the same period.
As a result, Inoue developed an innovative form of sho that would contend with the widespread Euro-American Abstract Expressionism. His works were featured in several significant exhibitions, including the 1954 Japanese Calligraphy exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A year later, he participated in the Abstract Painting: Japan and the U.S. exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo as well as the L'encre de Chine dans la calligraphie et l'art japonais contemporains exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (which toured five cities). In addition, Inoue's works received acclaim and recognition at Documenta II in Kassel (Germany) and Carnegie International in New York. Finally, to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of Inoue's birth, the Kanazawa 21st Century Museum held a large-scale retrospective exhibition in 2016.
