Collage of Black and Gold 黒と金のコラージュ

In 1949(Showa 24), Hidetaka Ono took part in the founding of the "Pan Real Art Association". The goal of the group was to stand up against the feudalistic conventionality of the world of established artists and outgrow old techniques to pursue the possibilities of "Nihon-ga" as an art form employing distempered pigments. While a member of the association, Ono changed his style repeatedly, as he found style after style inadequate for his purpose. At "The 16th Exhibition of Pan Real Art Association" in 1958, he presented a set of collages of rough cloth (made of hemp, etc.) inspired by Copt textile he had seen at The Exhibition of Asian and African Art. These were the first pieces in a series of works employing the same material that followed. This particular work is from the set of 1958, which marked the turning point for Ono in his search for innovative style. Later that year he left the group and started to participate in overseas shows.
A rough cloth is puckered and pasted onto a rough surfaced panel, which is very broad from side to side. As if to soften the jagged outline of the torn cloth, black and matte gold colors are painted on it. The emphasis on organic shapes and the presentation of the material as material are the traits Ono shares with the Informel paintings, which were introduced to Japan around the time. In this work, Ono reached his first goal in his unmatched efforts to outgrow conventional Nihon-ga.