Matazō Kayama ( , Kayama Matazō) was a Japanese ''

Nihonga ''Nihonga'' (, " Japanese-style paintings") are Japanese paintings from about 1900 onwards that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials. While based on traditions over a thousand years ...

'' painter of the 20th century, born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

in 1927.

Biography

Kayama Matazo was a painter who employed a mixed technique. In 1949, he graduated from the

Tokyo University of the Arts or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, sc ...

with a degree in painting. Around 1960 he traveled, gave exhibitions, and held conferences abroad. Starting in 1950, he participated in expositions of The Association of Young Artists ''(Shinseisaku gakai)'', wherein he was awarded four times. From 1958 on, he participated in international expositions of modern Japanese artists. In 1967, he also participated in the exhibition ''Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Painting'' at the State Hermitage Museum of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and at the

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (russian: Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина, abbreviated as ) is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just oppo ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. In 1957, he was granted the Young Painters Prize in the Asahi News. In 1973 he was granted the prize for Japanese Art and, in 1980, he received the Prize of the Ministry of Culture. He became a professor at the

in 1988.

Technique

Kai Tsugaru Owani Onsen Aomori pref Japan22s3

His works give the impression of a cross between a painting and a photograph. In 1950, he began to incorporate discrete elements of

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

, as well as elements of Italian futurism in his series of paintings focused on birds and other animals. In 1964, he conceived a

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelai ...

mural for the

Taiseki-ji , more commonly just , informally known as , is the administrative center of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. It is located in the foothills of Mount Fuji in Kamijo, Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Taiseki-ji was founded in 1290 by Nikkō Sh� ...

Temple of Fujinomiya. He also conceived a stone

Pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoi ...

for the Jindai-ji Temple in 1974, in homage to his late friend Yokoyama Misao (1920). Towards the end of the 1970s, several state organizations commissioned him to make mural decorations, including the Japanese Embassy in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Bibliography

References

External links

Kayama's Cat Paintings {{DEFAULTSORT:Kayama Matazo Nihonga painters 1927 births 2004 deaths Buddhist artists 20th-century Japanese painters