This is the first book ever published in English on the development, identity, and expression of Japanses avant-garde art after 1945, as seen within the dramatic social and political context of postwar and contemporary culture in Japan. The Japanese avant-garde art presented here is characterized by a ruling passion for spiritual freedom and individual self-expression, informed by the international trends of modernist art, yet insistent on its own original, cultural identity. The nature and content of that identity is a central theme running throughout this book. Profusely illustrated with historic documentary photographs and works of art, this book traces the spectacular growth and evolution of such internationally-renowned groups as the Experimental Workshop, Gutai, Hi Red Center, and Mono-ha, through the work of over 100 artists in painting, sculpture, photography, performance, video, film, and installation art.

(Abstract from the dustjacket)

The catalog of a current U.S. exhibition of postwar, avant-garde Japanese art (at the Guggenheim in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Art), this volume is a significant publication about a tradition that has received scant attention in this country until now.

Beginning with the Gutai movement, the exhibition chronicles art in every medium from paintings and prints to video, performance art, and installations. Substantive essays by curator Alexandra Munroe, video artist Nam June Paik, and others provide historical background and address the critical question of the relationship of this art to both traditional Japanese and contemporary Western aesthetics. An important acquisition for academic and large public libraries with contemporary art collections.

Exhibition dates:
Yokohama: February 5 - March 30, 1994

Guggenheim Museum SOHO, New York: September 14 - January 8, 1995

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art / Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens: May 31 - August 27, 1995

Yokohama Museum of Art, 5 febbraio -30 marzo 1994; Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York, 14 settembre 1994 - 8 gennaio 1995; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 31 maggio - 27 agosto 1995