Yellow Sun 黄色い太陽

For Masanari Murai, the year 1950 (Showa 25) was a very important one in his career, as it was in that year that he left the "Jiyu Bijutsuka Kyokai", of which he was a member since its founding before the war, when he encountered opposition from some of its members, and subsequently formed the "Modern Art Kyokai" with eight other emerging artists including Kaoru Yamaguchi and Rokuro Yabashi. This work, produced in the same year and shown in the first exhibition of the new group in the following year, is an important piece which symbolizes Murai's resolution about launching a new group and cutting out a new path for abstract painting. He later commented on it as follows: "I once produced a work titled"Yellow Sun". I still feel the sun should be painted yellow rather than white, as yellow better expresses its fierce burning." The use of intense colors such as black and white in addition to the yellow, together with the thick lines representing a human figure overlaid upon the fluid but geometric color planes, creates a forceful, flat picture. This bold abstract work, straightforwardly conveying the artist's force of will, is in marked contrast with his prewar works in a cerebral style reminiscent of Mondrian's, and is a piece that embodies a turning point in the development of his abstract art.