The Contemporary Art Society (Genbi) was founded in 1952 as a research group on the new art of the time.
One of the characteristics of this group was that it transcended the boundaries of genres and included artists from various fields, of ceramics, calligraphy, ikebana, design, and photography in addition to painting and sculpture. As a place for research and exchange among artists in other fields, many artists who would later become members of Gutai participated in the group before its establishment. Due to the nature of the study group, this group did not become a single faction, but it is an important fact that it became a place for later members of Gutai to meet each other.