YAMAGUCHI KAORU (1907–1968), A FESTIVAL (ARU SAITEN) | SHOWA PERIOD, 20TH CENTURY

Yamaguchi was born in Gunma in 1907. While studying Western painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now the Tokyo University of the Arts), his work was selected and exhibited at “Teiten (the Imperial Fine Arts Academy exhibition)” in 1926. After graduating from the school in 1930, he moved to France for 3 years, where he immersed himself in Western art history. In 1937, with fellow artists including Saburo Hasegawa (1906-1957) and Yozo Hamaguchi (1909-2000), he founded “Jiyu Bijutsuka Kyokai (Free Artists Association).” Following the Second World War, Yamaguchi established “Modern Art Kyokai (Modern Art Association)” in 1950, together with several of his former associates. His works were exhibited at international art fairs including the São Paolo International Biennale (1953) and Venice Biennale (1960). In 1958 he won the Guggenheim National Award for the Nation (Japan) and his painting “Hayashi to Dobutsu” was exhibited at the Guggenheim International Prize Winners Show, alongside works by Joan Miro, Mark Rothko and Alberto Burri Yamaguchi was awarded the “Geijutsu Sensho Monbu Daijin-sho (the Ministry of Education’s award for the arts) and continued to teach at the Tokyo University of the Arts until his death in 1953. That same year, the university staged a retrospective exhibition of his work.