Kazuo Shiraga facts for kids

Kazuo Shiraga (白髪 一雄, Shiraga Kazuo, August 12, 1924 – April 8, 2008) was a Japanese abstract painter. He was a very important member of the Gutai Art Association (Gutai), a group of artists who loved to experiment after World War II. Shiraga was known for trying many different art forms. Besides painting, he also created performance art, made three-dimensional objects, and designed art installations. Many of his works are now known through old photos and films.

Shiraga is most famous for his abstract paintings, often called "foot paintings." He made these by spreading oil paint on paper or canvas using his feet! He invented this special method in 1954. His unique way of painting connected with other art styles of the 1950s, like Informel and Abstract Expressionism, which were popular in Europe and America. Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, he also started using tools like boards and spatulas to spread the paint.

Some of his experimental works, like Challenging Mud and Ultramodern Sanbasō, were part of Gutai's idea of "picturing." This meant exploring new ways to create art, like a picture. Shiraga's art was sometimes linked to his interest in strong, even wild, expressions. He had been fascinated by these ideas since he was a child.

Among the Gutai artists, Shiraga was one of the most recognized and successful. A French art critic named Michel Tapié helped promote Gutai artists in Europe and the US. Shiraga became very successful as a solo artist in the late 1950s, and his art is still highly valued in international art auctions today.

Biography

Early life and studies

Kazuo Shiraga was born in 1924 in Amagasaki, Japan. He was the first son in a family that sold kimono fabrics. He grew up in a home where art was important, including oil painting, traditional Japanese performing arts, and classic Chinese literature.

Shiraga was interested in oil painting, but in 1942, he began studying Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) at the Kyoto City Special School of Painting. His studies were stopped in 1944 when he joined the Japanese army during World War II. After the war ended, he went back to school in 1945.

Early art career, 1946–1955

In 1946, Shiraga was sick for several months. During this time, he read books by art critic Usaburō Toyama. In 1948, he married Fujiko Uemura, who also became an artist and helped him with his work. That same year, Shiraga finished his studies and finally began learning oil painting.

He joined different art groups and in 1952, he helped start Zero-kai (Zero Society) with other artists like Akira Kanayama and Saburo Murakami. Later, Atsuko Tanaka joined them. In 1954, Shiraga had a show with Murakami. This was when he created his first "foot paintings." For these, he used his feet to spread oil paint on canvases placed on the floor.

Gutai Art Association and solo success, 1955–1972

In April 1955, Shiraga and his friends from Zero-kai joined the Gutai Art Association. This group had been started a few months earlier by Jirō Yoshihara. Shiraga took part in most of Gutai's projects and shows until the group ended in 1972, after Yoshihara passed away.

Besides many foot paintings, Shiraga also made art objects, performances, and installations for Gutai events. Some famous ones include Red Logs (also called Please Come In) in 1955, Challenging Mud in 1955, and the Ultramodern Sanbaso performance in 1957.

In 1957, Gutai started working with Michel Tapié, a French art critic. Tapié promoted Shiraga, Yoshihara, Tanaka, and Sadamasa Motonaga in Europe and the US, helping them get art contracts.

Thanks to Tapié, Shiraga's art was shown in more group exhibitions in Europe and Japan. In 1959, his works were in shows in Tokyo, Italy, and Paris. In 1962, Shiraga had his first solo art show in Paris, followed by another in Osaka.

In the mid-1960s, Shiraga started trying new colors and ways to paint. He began using tools like wooden, ski-like boards to spread paint instead of just his feet. Even though he became famous as a solo artist, Shiraga kept working on Gutai projects until the group ended in 1972.

Becoming a monk, 1971–1974

In 1971, Shiraga became a priest in the Tendai sect of Buddhism at the Enryaku-ji temple in Japan. He stopped painting while he was training. After he became a priest in 1974, he started painting regularly again. Before painting, Shiraga would meditate and pray to Fūdo Myōo, a Buddhist deity.

Later life and recognition

After becoming a monk and Gutai ended, Shiraga's art continued to be shown in museums and galleries in Japan. From the 1980s onwards, his works were featured in many big exhibitions about Japanese art and Gutai. In 1986, he traveled to Europe for the first time for a show in Paris.

Shiraga's first solo exhibition at a major museum was in 1985. Later, big shows of his work were held in 1989 and 2001. He received several awards for his art, including the Hyogo Prefectural Cultural Prize in 1987.

Shiraga passed away at his home in Amagasaki on April 8, 2008.

Artworks

Early paintings

In his 20s, Shiraga painted landscapes and city scenes. In the late 1940s, he started to change his style, making figures look distorted, inspired by European stories and Japanese folk tales. By 1952, he moved towards abstract art. He would carefully scrape layers of paint on canvas with knives, creating shimmering, mirror-like effects. This showed his interest in making the painting process visible. Around 1954, Shiraga stopped using tools and used his hands, fingers, and even fingernails to spread thick, often red, oil paint in lines across the canvases.

Foot paintings

Untitled (1958), an example of Shiraga's foot paintings, at Glenstone in 2023

Shiraga made his first foot paintings in 1954. His method involved stepping onto the painting surface, which was spread out on the floor. He would smear oil paint with his feet, trying not to control the composition or colors too much. Soon, he hung a rope from the ceiling in his studio. He could hold onto this rope to glide over the painting without falling.

At first, Shiraga used a type of paper for his foot paintings. But the art critic Tapié asked him to use canvas instead. This made the artworks easier to sell, preserve, and transport. Shiraga also started making bigger paintings and signing his works with Japanese characters (Kanji) instead of Roman letters.

In the mid-1960s, Shiraga began using skis and wooden spatulas, and later paper rolls, to apply paint. These tools helped him create wider stripes and fan-shaped forms. After he became a Tendai priest in the 1970s, he started making circles of smeared paint. This created a cool mix of clear shapes and uncontrolled splashes. In the 1970s, he also started using new, bright alkyd paints. Around 1980, Shiraga went back to mainly using his feet for painting, with black and white as the main colors, until he died in 2008.

His foot paintings became Shiraga's most famous work. They fit well with Tapié's plan to promote energetic abstract painting. Shiraga's intense way of creating art and his dynamic visual style reminded people of traditional Japanese arts like ink painting, calligraphy, Zen practices, and martial arts.

Shiraga sometimes performed his foot painting in public. These events were well-documented with photos and films. This helped people see his painting method as a type of performance art, especially from the early 1960s.

Suikoden (Water Margin) series

Around 1958, Shiraga started naming his foot paintings after characters from Suikoden (Water Margin). This is a 14th-century Chinese novel about 108 warrior heroes and their violent fights for justice. He loved these stories and the heroes' energy since he was a child. He felt that being an artist was similar to being one of these heroes. Some of his earlier untitled paintings were given these names later.

Shiraga used the names of 106 heroes for his paintings between 1959 and 1965. He even used the names of the last two heroes for paintings he made in 2001. He once said: "The heroes in Water Margin each have their own unique personalities, and to me each one seems quite extreme. ... And that led me to the sense that my painting should be about personality, about pushing my own personality to the limit." However, he didn't use these Suikoden titles in exhibitions. Instead, the works were simply called Sakuhin (Work). After he became a Tendai priest in 1974, Shiraga chose Buddhist-related titles for his works, like names of deities or concepts.

Objects, installations, and performances

Besides his foot paintings, Shiraga also created conceptual objects, three-dimensional art installations, and performances. Most of these were made for Gutai events and exhibitions, from the Experimental Outdoor Exhibition of Modern Art in 1955 to Gutai's projects for the Expo ’70 in Osaka.

For the Experimental Outdoor Exhibition of Modern Art in 1955, Shiraga made Red Logs (also known as Please Come In). This was a cone-shaped structure made of painted wooden logs. He cut notches into the logs with an axe. Photos show him making it, so it's often seen as a public performance. However, Shiraga thought of it as an extension of his painting, like "openings to a picture that could be looked at endlessly." He used similar red-painted wood for other 3D pieces between 1956 and 1957, which also had holes or openings to look through.

In the mid-1960s, Shiraga used the semicircle shapes from his paintings to create huge objects. These looked like large Japanese hand fans. Sometimes, he combined these objects with oil paintings, like White Work and Object, White Fan (1966).

Challenging Mud, 1955

At the First Gutai Art Exhibition in Tokyo in October 1955, Shiraga showed two large foot paintings. Outside, he also displayed Red Logs. In the same outdoor area, Shiraga, with press and photographers watching, took off his clothes (down to his underwear) and wrestled in a pile of wall plaster and concrete. This "mud" showed the marks of his crawling and punching. It was left on display during the exhibition and then thrown away. Many photos and films document Challenging Mud, and it's seen as a famous performance or action art piece. But Shiraga saw it as an extension of his foot painting.

For the 2nd Outdoor Gutai Art Exhibition in 1956, Shiraga made two works that were similar to Challenging Mud: Oval, an oval-shaped pile of mud covered in vinyl, which looked like a giant creature; and Circle, another pile of earth covered in plastic.

Ultramodern Sanbasō, 1957

Shiraga opened the Gutai Art on the Stage show in Osaka and Tokyo in 1957. At the start, the stage was empty except for painted wooden poles. These poles fell one by one. Then, Shiraga appeared in a red costume and a large mask with exaggerated features. He performed his own version of sanbasō, a traditional Japanese dance from Noh and Kyōgen theater. After that, other Gutai members joined him on stage, and they shot arrows at a screen in the background.

The idea of shishitsu

Shiraga was an important thinker among the Gutai members. He wrote about ideas that helped explain the group's goals. A key term in his writings was shishitsu, which means a person's natural character or talent. In his essays for the Gutai journal, Shiraga often wrote about how important it was to understand one's own natural feelings. He believed this should be combined with experiences gained through life. He felt that an artist's unique feelings should be shown physically through their body and by using the right materials.

Shiraga believed that "pure painting" should express the artist's feelings. He once said, "Reading these passages, I wondered which of the two tendencies I belonged to. Based on the works I was creating, I thought I was heading in the emotional direction. I thus concluded that my mission from now on was to reach the farthest end of this emotional direction." This explains his strong passion for using his body in art and for the thick, heavy oil paint.

Art sales

Shiraga's artworks have sold for very high prices. In December 2014, his painting Chijikusei Gotenrai (1961) sold for 3.25 million euros. In 2018, another one of his foot paintings sold for over 8.7 million euros, setting a new record.

Past exhibitions

• 1989: Encounters Between Body and the Material: Shiraga Kazuo, Amagasaki Cultural Center, Amagasaki
• 2001: 白髪一雄展: アクションぺインター / Kazuo Shiraga (Kazuo Shiraga exhibition: Action painter), Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kobe
• 2009: 白髪一雄展: 格闘から生まれた絵画 / Kazuo Shiraga: Painting Born Out of Fighting, Azumino Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Toyoshina, and other venues
• 2015: Between Action and the Unknown: The Art of Kazuo Shiraga and Sadamasa Motonaga, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
• 2020: 白髪一雄 / Kazuo Shiraga: A Retrospective, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo