Kakuzō Tatehata - Japanese Literary Awards

Profile

Gender: Male
Born: 1919-04-22 （Tokyo (former Tokyo Prefecture), Japan）
Died: 2006-02-16 age 86
Nationality: Japan
Languages: Japanese
Residence History: Tokyo, Japan → Saigon (then French Indochina, now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam → France (Paris)

Career

Occupations: Sculptor, University professor
Active Years: 1941-2006
Affiliations: Tama Art University, Kodo Bijutsu Kyokai (Action Art Association) - established sculpture section
Memberships: Kodo Bijutsu Kyokai (Action Art Association)
Influenced By: Henry Moore
Influenced: Later generations of Japanese abstract sculptors

Education

Institution	Faculty	Department	Degree	Period	Country
Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts)	Sculpture Section	Sculpture Department	—	—	Japan

Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts)

Sculpture Section / Sculpture Department

Year of Graduation: 1941

Country: Japan

Graduated from the former Tokyo School of Fine Arts; modern degree notation varies by source.

Awards

Year	Award	Work	Category	Organization	Result
—	Art Encouragement Prize / Minister of Education Award	—	—	Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan	受賞
2005	Person of Cultural Merit	—	—	Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan	顕彰
—	Takamura Kōtarō Prize	—	—	—	受賞
—	Nakahara Teijirō Prize	—	—	—	受賞
—	Nagano City Outdoor Sculpture Award	—	—	Nagano City	受賞
—	Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition—Special Prize	—	—	Henry Moore Prize Exhibition Committee	受賞（特別賞）

Art Encouragement Prize / Minister of Education Award

Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan

Result: 受賞

Person of Cultural Merit

2005

Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan

Result: 顕彰

Takamura Kōtarō Prize

Result: 受賞

Nakahara Teijirō Prize

Result: 受賞

Nagano City Outdoor Sculpture Award

Organization: Nagano City

Result: 受賞

Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition—Special Prize

Organization: Henry Moore Prize Exhibition Committee

Result: 受賞（特別賞）

Awards & Nominations

Art Encouragement Prize for Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 1 appearances

Edition 40 (1990) award

Works

Major Works

Silence

1941 Sculpture

Created while studying at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and exhibited at the 4th Shinbunten (1941), where it received special selection. An early work suggesting his shift from figurative to abstract sculpture.

Abstractionrelationship between mass and surrounding spacetransition from figurative to abstract

WAVING FIGURE

1998 Sculpture

Created in 1998 and held by the Shimane Art Museum. A representative public work combining geometric form with subtle humor.

human figure motifgeometric formpublic installation

Style & Themes

Literary Style: a clear, logical structural approach to forma minimalist aesthetic that pares away excessuse of diverse materials (bronze, iron, aluminum, acrylic, cement, plywood)
Recurring Motifs: the relationship between mass and surrounding spaceforms with holes through the body (influence of Moore)insertion of humorgeometric forms

Legacy

One of the pioneers of postwar Japanese abstract sculpture. He taught at Tama Art University, received numerous domestic and international awards, left many public monuments, and was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 2005.

Museums

Shimane Art Museum Matsue, Shimane, Japan

Academic Societies

Action Art Association (Kodo Bijutsu Kyokai)

In Popular Culture

Familiar to the public through monuments installed in plazas and schools across Japan.

Trivia

In 1944 he was posted to the Japan Culture Center in Saigon and was detained there for four months after the end of the war.
His father was the sculptor Tatehata Damu (建畠大夢).
His eldest son, Sakuya Tatehata, is a sculptor and a professor at Nihon University's College of Art.
His second son, Tetsu Tatehata, is a poet and art critic who served as director of the National Museum of Art and president of Kyoto City University of Arts.
His wife, Yoshii Shimamura, was from Kyoto; they married in 1944.