Turning Point ターニング・ポイント

Kenzo Okada left Japan for Paris when he was still a student at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, and returned to Japan after a four years' stay in France. On his return, he showed sweet female figures and landscapes reminiscent of Cézanne. In the following years, he became one of the leading artists of the "Nika" group. But he chose to leave Japan again, and in 1950, at the age of 48, he departed Japan for New York. "Turning Point" is a typical work from his period when, after moving to the United States, he turned to abstract painting. From the layers of white paint applied with a knife, elegant linear forms emerge to float within the pictorial space that has subtle expanse and depth. This style, characterized by patterns and colors that reminds us of traditional Japanese paper, was given・the name of "yugenism" and became a sensation in the New York art world. It is sometimes said that Okada's reputation may somehow owe to his use of Japanese elements, which may have caused the exotic appeal to the Westerners. But he was more than that: in presenting his inner impressions in thick, solid brushstrokes like those found in Action Painting, he was one of the few truly modern Japanese painters of the period.