Waichi Tsutaka (津高和一, Tsutaka Waichi, November 1, 1911, in Osaka – January 17, 1995, in Nishinomiya) was a Japanese visual artist, mainly known as painter and poet.
Tsutaka has been recognized as one of the leading postwar Japanese abstract painters for his calligraphic paintings, which explored the formal, textual, and material variety of lines. He also created ink paintings, watercolors, drawings, lithographs, ceramic plates, stone carvings, collages, and illustrations for publications, as well as poems, essays and articles on art, and exhibitions reviews.
Tsutaka was an influential figure in the cultural life of the Hanshin region, who vitally engaged in artist groups and platforms for cross-genre exchange, in art education, and in art projects and outdoor exhibitions that aimed at breaking down the separation between art and (everyday) life, making art accessible for a broader public, and fostering dialogue through art.
Biography
Early life
Born in 1911 in Osaka as the son of a rice dealer, Tsutaka was adopted by his older half-brother and moved to Nishinomiya in 1914 following his father’s bankruptcy. In his youth Tsutaka showed an interest in literature and poetry. He enlisted and served in the military from 1932 to 1933. In 1937, he joined the Surrealist poets circle Kōbe Shijin (Kobe Poet), which would in 1940 become a target of anti-communist oppression in Japan. Under the provisions of the Public Security Preservation Laws, in the so-called Kobe Poet Incident, several members were arrested and interrogated under the suspicion of undermining the political and social order. Tsutaka was spared persecution but became aware of how poetry as a form of verbal expression could be seen as dangerous politically. In 1939, he began to study painting at the Nakanoshima Yōga Kenkyūjo (Nakanoshima Institute of Western Painting), a private art school in Osaka, and also briefly worked for the Japanese Red Cross Society. In 1940, Tsutaka was again drafted into the army, and he was sent to Manchuria in 1941. He returned to Japan in 1943.
1946–1960: Postwar career and interdisciplinary engagement
In 1946, Tsutaka joined the avant-garde cross-genre discussion group Kai Variete (Variété Society), and began to participate in the annual juried exhibition of Kōdō Bijutsu Kyōkai (Action Art Association, commonly known as Kōdō), of which he became an official member in 1952. He became a contributor to the poetry magazines Hi no tori (Fire Bird) in 1947, and Tenbin (Scale) in 1950, and continued to engage in interdisciplinary exchange. He became a vital member of Gendai Bijutsu Kondankai (Contemporary Art Discussion Group, commonly known as Genbi), which was founded in 1952 by Jirō Yoshihara, Kokuta Suda and others as a forum for a free interdisciplinary exchange among artists, critics, and scholars from the Kansai region. In addition to painters and sculptors, the group included avant-garde practitioners of the traditional arts: ceramics (such as Sōdeisha), calligraphy (such as Bokujinkai) and ikebana. Tsutaka contributed talks and exhibitions reviews to Genbi. Around this time, Tsutaka began to create murals, fashion design and stage sets for fashion shows and theaters. With Yoshihara, Suda, Kazuo Yagi, and others, Tsutaka in 1955 co-founded the Kansai section of the International Art Club. In 1956 he co-founded the Seikatsu Zōkei Kyōkai (Association of Plastic Arts for Everyday Life), which aimed at breaching the separation between art and life by providing works made of everyday materials or for everyday use.
Tsutaka’s breakthrough as painter occurred in the early 1950s when art critic Atsuo Imaizumi praised his paintings Boshi-zō (Mother and Child) at the 6th Kōdō Exhibition in 1951 and Maisō (Burial) at the 7th Kōdō Exhibition in 1952. Tsutaka was subsequently recognized as one of the leading Japanese artists, and his works were presented in major exhibitions and survey shows of contemporary Japanese art, such as Gendai Nihon bijutsuten (The Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan) from 1954 to 1969, Nihon kokusai bijutsu-ten (International Art Exhibition Japan) from 1955 to 1965, Nichibei bijutsu-ten (Abstract Art Exhibition: Japan and USA) in 1955, and Sekai – konnichi no bijutsu (Exhibition international d’art actuel) in 1956.