Tanaka Atsuko

Galleria Toselli, Milan
Acquired by the current owner from the above 

This work is generally in good condition. There are folding cracks and accretion around the edges, and a craquelure along the top edge which measures approximately 10 cm. There are several spots of abrasion in a linear sequence at the lower centre of the work. Having examined the work under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Pulsing Lights
Tanaka Atsuko

Donning a heaving dress made up of some two hundred light bulbs and light tubes framing her small build, Tanaka Atsuko emerged on stage during the 2^nd Gutai Art Exhibition in 1956, sporting the staggering ensemble amidst a background of blaring sounds. The Electric Dress, which has since become a ubiquitous fixture in any discussion of Tanaka, is an integral emblem of the artist’s oeuvre, and is the source for the present sale’s 93C (Lot 1058). Painted in the early nineties, 93C showcases many elements of the artistic mantras that Tanaka intoned during the Gutai period, as well as serves as a strong culmination of the artist’s exploration of art beyond the group’s interests.

 

Tanaka was born in 1932 in Osaka, where she received extensive training in art and aesthetics. Serving as a crucial location to the establishment of avant garde Japanese art, Osaka was also the site where Gutai was first founded by Yoshihara Jiro in 1955, and Tanaka’s proximity to Gutai and other artistic movements of the time no doubt influenced the then young artist’s drive and development. Amongst the artist’s contemporaries were figures such as Shiraga Kazuo and Kanayama Akira, both of whom also attended the Art Institute of Osaka Municipal Museum of Art in the years preceding Tanaka’s own entrance to the school. Following a subsequent introduction by Kanayama, Tanaka became a member of the Zero Group, which later merged with the original Gutai members to become the group as it is famously known as in present day. The artist’s works have been exhibited at world-class institutions, with recent shows at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, and the 53^rd Venice Biennale. Even after her death in 2005, the artist’s works continued to fascinate her audiences, with previous installations recreated, and older works extensively exhibited.  

 

To be a female artist in a male-dominated art sphere often grants women lesser importance—but this was far from the case for Tanaka. Having met with the Gutai group and interacted with the various artists at work, the famous art critic Michel Tapié counted Tanaka amongst a select few whom he saw as vanguards of an international level of excellence—Tanaka being the only female Gutai artist who is explicitly mentioned in “A Mental Reckoning of My First Trip to Japan”. Written in 1957, Tapié notes, “I have a deep respect for the whole group [Gutai] as a group, but I would like to name four artists who should appear alongside the most established international figures: Shiraga Kazuo, Shimamoto Shozo, Yoshihara Jiro, and Tanaka Atsuko.”¹ Living up to this weighty acknowledgement, Tanaka certainly produced art that was of an impeccable standard, but most importantly, of unrivalled innovation.

 

When one turns to 93C, the veneration that Tapié extends to Tanaka’s work is immediately apparent. Featuring a complex network of brightly coloured circles and lines, the present work is an apt metaphor for energy and life. To create this immense work, the artist placed the canvas horizontally onto the floor of her studio, first using vivid colours to freely create circles, then adding winding lines that at times forge connections between these circles, at times act as spontaneous markings. This technique is hugely indicative of the artist’s cerebral developments, and is fashioned from her unprompted psychological explorations—recalling at once central nervous systems, computer circuits, or a concentration of cells.

 

The interconnected circles and lines in 93C are also immediately evocative of Tanaka’s previous works, such Work (Bell), an installation work that was shown at the 1^st Gutai Art Exhibition in 1955, as well as the aforementioned 1956 Electric Dress. In both cases, the artist sought to conflate human qualities with technological advancement. Work (Bell) was an installation that featured a circuit of ringing bells activated by its viewer, producing a chain ringing effect that would chime along the length of the exhibition room, diminishing in volume, before increasing on its way back. As with Electric Dress that became a focal point of the next Gutai Art Exhibition, both works explore the interrelatedness between action and reaction, and method or medium and executer. Against a broader backdrop of post-war Japan, which had newly re-emerged from ruin, technology held the symbolic importance of innovation and regeneration for the country, representing Japan’s strong desire to move forward and recreate. Considering their time of creation, it would be thus fitting to view Work (Bell) and Electric Dress as potent metaphors for renewal and rebirth, and 93C can most certainly be considered along the same vein. Along with its thrashing lines and perfectly round circles, 93C is a potent display of life. 

 

Tanaka has also in the past remarked on her equating the act of painting with the ringing of a bell.  Both acts involve movement: where a chime is produced by the constant movement of a bell, a painting is produced by constant “shaking, creating a “space with vibrations.”² 93C captures the full extent of these “vibrations”, translated in the form of various drippings and swirls across the canvas, where interconnected spheres pulsate together in an alluring, colossal canvas.

 

Above all, 93C is a fervent display of the Gutai group’s preoccupation of the relationship between materiality and humanity; of object and mind and spirit. By translating movement into paint on her canvas, Tanaka “captures” action—much in the same way as her Work (Bell) and Electric Dress seek to encapsulate both sound and electricity. Thus 93C can be considered as a capsule of the artist’s energy, a remnant of her unbridled efforts. With her singular fixation on the dynamics between human and object, Tanaka Atsuko has created a body of work that is a celebration of time itself:  with her art being more than simply art, but rather, an emblem of her very being. 

1 Michel Tapié, “A Mental Reckoning of My First Trip to Japan”, 1957

2 Ikon Gallery, Atsuko Tanaka: The Art of Connecting, Birmingham, 2011, p.12