Japanese Literary Awards

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Keiji Usami

うさみ けいじ

Usami Keiji

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1940-01-29 （Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan）
Died
2012-10-19 age 72
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Suita (Osaka Prefecture) → Wakayama City (Wakayama Prefecture) → Osaka City (Osaka Prefecture) → Tokyo

Career

Occupations
Painter, Art educator, Professor
Active Years
1960-2012
Affiliations
Tama Art University (Associate Professor), Musashino Art University (Professor), Kyoto City University of Arts (Professor)
Influenced By
Marcel Duchamp

Education

Osaka Prefectural Tennoji High School
Period: 1955-1958
Year of Graduation: 1958
Country: Japan
Tokyo University of the Arts (applicant, not admitted)
Period: 受験時期: 1958頃
Country: Japan
Did not enroll; began producing work as a self-taught artist
Self-taught
Period: 1958-
Country: Japan
Settled in Tokyo and began creating work as a self-taught artist

Awards

Japan Arts Grand Prize
1989
Organization: Japanese arts organizations
Result: winner
Art Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
2002
Organization: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Reduction No.2

1963 Painting (Contemporary art)

One of his early representative works, demonstrating experimental abstract expression in the 1960s.

AbstractionFragmented human silhouettes

Ghost Plan in Process I–IV

1972 Painting (Contemporary art)

A representative series from the 1970s exploring layered structures and ethereal spatial expression.

LayersSpace

Control / Great Flood

2011 Painting (Contemporary art)

A late-career series that includes works shown in his final solo exhibition (March 2012).

Apocalyptic motifsNature and humanity

Bibliography

  • Theory of Painting — The Restoration of Drawing (Chikuma Shobo, 1980)
  • Portraits of Line — From the Horizons of Contemporary Art (Ozawa Shoten, 1980)
  • Duchamp (Iwanami Shoten, 1984)
  • From Signs to Form — Seeking Themes in Contemporary Painting (Chikuma Shobo, 1985)
  • Methods of Painting (Ozawa Shoten, 1994)
  • On Imaginary Art (Shin-Yosha, 1994)
  • Twentieth-Century Art (Iwanami Shoten, 1994)
  • Cosmology of Pictorial Space — Keiji Usami: Works (Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1999)
  • Pilgrimage to Ruins — A Journey Questioning the Future of Humanity and Art (Heibonsha, 2000)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Abstract, experimental pictorial expressionLayered structures and mutable spatial representation
Recurring Motifs
CirclesLayersFragmented human silhouettes

Health

  • Esophageal cancer
    不詳 - 2012年
    Affected his health in later years and was cited as a contributing factor to his death
  • Heart failure
    2012年（死因）
    Reported as the cause of death in October 2012

Legacy

One of the leading Japanese contemporary painters since the 1960s. Praised for his abstract expression and structural compositions; his works are held in many public collections, and he contributed significantly as an art educator.

Museums

  • National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
  • The National Museum of Art, Osaka Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
  • Sezon Museum of Modern Art Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture (collection)

Archives

  • Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (retrospective materials)
  • Collection archives of various museums holding his works

Quotes

  • To draw is an extension of thinking; painting is another language for speaking.
    Source: Theory of Painting — The Restoration of Drawing (Chikuma Shobo, 1980) (1980)

Trivia

  • A mural he created for the University of Tokyo co-op dining hall ('Kizuna') was reported disposed of during building renovation in 2017.
  • He exhibited in MoMA's 1965 show 'New Japanese Painting and Sculpture'.