Kumi Sugai in 1962, via Wikipedia
Kumi Sugai
Kumi Sugai (1919-1996) was a Japanese painter and printmaker renowned for his dynamic evolution from lyrical abstraction to hard-edge abstraction, reflecting his deep engagement with both avant-garde and contemporary art. His work, marked by its transformation and innovation, has left an enduring legacy in the art world.
Born in 1919 in Japan, Sugai embarked on his artistic career in the wake of World War II. To support himself, he initially illustrated elementary school textbooks. His formal art education began with Japanese-style painting (nihonga) under Teii Nakamura, a member of the Nihon Bijutsuin. Sugai’s early work was influenced by Yoshihara Jirō, a leading figure in the Gutai group. Yoshihara’s emphasis on the materiality of paint and abstract forms, along with a shared interest in childlike, abstracted forms, profoundly impacted Sugai. This influence is evident in Sugai’s work from this period, which often featured a recurring bird motif and reflected the aesthetics of Paul Klee, Joan Miró, and Max Ernst. Sugai’s early achievements include winning a prize at the 4th Ashiya City Exhibition, where Yoshihara served as a judge.
His early paintings possess an immediate and elegantly elegiac vibrancy, evoking primordial narratives of life, death, love, loss, victory, tragedy, and transcendence. These works serve as gateways to the world of creation within the mind’s eye of this magician-scribe-painter. Sugai, one of the great abstract expressionists of postwar Japan, preceded the Gutai School artists on their path to Paris and was both an iconoclast and an inspiration for his contemporaries. He belonged to the first generation of 20th-century Japanese artists to become acquainted with Western painting techniques, while also exploring typography and Japanese calligraphy, which became significant elements in his later work.
Kumi Sugai - The Endless Quest (1962). Printmaking, engraving, on BFK de Rives. 33 x 50 cm
Paris and the Avant-Garde
In 1952, driven by his interest in avant-garde painting, Sugai moved to Paris. Settling in Montparnasse, he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière under Edouard Goerg. His initial works in Paris retained a figurative style and echoed Art Informel, featuring empty urban landscapes with geometric lines scratched into thick oil paint. Sugai also continued to simplify animal forms in his paintings.
Life in Paris was initially solitary for Sugai, as he spoke little French. Nevertheless, he became part of a community of Japanese artists, including Toshimitsu Imai, Hisao Domoto, and Japanese-American sculptor Shinkichi Tajiri, who was associated with the CoBrA group. Tajiri played a key role in Sugai’s early Parisian career by inviting him to exhibit in Charles Estienne’s salon Octobre in 1953. The art dealer John Craven offered Sugai a contract and his first solo exhibition in Paris, further establishing his presence in the art scene. Sugai’s work also gained recognition from critic Michel Ragon, leading to inclusion in two exhibitions with the Nouvelle École de Paris.
Since his Paris debut, Sugai garnered numerous awards and solidified his position as one of Japan's foremost abstract painters, reaching the height of his popularity in the mid-1960s. Today, however, he is more commonly associated with his later-period lithographs and geometric paintings in bright primary colors, which are more abundant than the sublime works from his Paris era. It is the rare and precious abstract oils Sugai painted in the 1950s and 1960s that remain most cherished by museums and collectors, seldom appearing on the open market due to their scarcity.
Evolution of style
By the mid-1950s, Sugai’s work began shifting from figurative to more abstract forms. The late 1950s and early 1960s saw him produce large, vividly colored canvases dominated by blocky, calligraphic geometric shapes. Titles of these works, such as oni, samurai, and raishin, evoke Japanese folklore. Despite their compositional simplicity, these paintings retained a thick, textural quality.
In 1955, Sugai began experimenting with printmaking, producing his first lithograph. This new medium, rare in Japan but popular in France, marked a significant expansion of his artistic practice. His 1957 lithographs illustrated Jean-Clarence Lambert’s poetry book La Quête sans fin. Sugai also ventured into sculpture in the late 1950s, creating works like Objet, a paintbrush mounted on a plinth, enshrouded in paint, and abstracted. In 1960, he was awarded the prize of the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo at the International Biennial of Engraving.
Recognized as part of the ‘Nouvelle École de Paris’ and ‘Nouveau Réalisme’ movements, he started transitioning away from ‘abstraction lyrique’ in 1962. Moving from primarily monochromatic calligraphic organic motifs to geometric imagery, his abstract art is now characterized as "hard-edge."
Later years and transformative changes
1962 was a pivotal year for Sugai, marking a significant transformation in his style. He moved away from informel materiality to embrace a hard-edge, geometric abstraction, using matte surfaces and acrylic paint. His fascination with automobiles and urban life, particularly after acquiring a Porsche in 1960, profoundly influenced his new aesthetic. Sugai’s work during this period featured clearly delineated geometric forms and monumental formats. He created about fifty works between 1964 and 1968, each including the word “Auto” in the title, reflecting his passion for speed and road signs.
In 1969, Sugai returned to Japan for the first time in 18 years to create a 16-meter long, 3.6-meter high mural titled Festival of Tokyo for the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. This mural was the largest work of his career and marked his first solo exhibitions in Japan. His later career involved producing works in series and focusing on lithographs from the 1970s onwards. Sugai frequently returned to Japan, where retrospectives of his work were held.
Exhibitions and collections
Sugai's work received numerous accolades, including the Grand Prix at the 1961 Grenchen International Triennial of Color Printing, the Grand Prix at the 1965 Krakow International Print Biennial, and the Prix d'Honneur at the 1972 International Print Biennial in Norway. In 1996, shortly before his death on May 14 in Kobe, he was honored with the Shiju-Hosho prize by the Emperor of Japan for his high cultural merit. His art is featured in prestigious collections globally, and his career, marked by continual evolution and exploration, underscores his significant impact on both Japanese and international art.
His works have been showcased in major exhibitions worldwide, including "Japon Des Avant Gardes 1910-1970" at Le Centre Pompidou (1986), "Contemporary Art/Postwar" at The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura (1979), and “Development of Postwar Japanese Art: Abstract and Non-Figurative” at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (1973). Notable solo exhibitions include “Kumi Sugai” at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art and The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2000), and retrospectives at the Seibu Museum, Tokyo (1983) and The Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama (1984). Sugai also received mid-career retrospectives at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (1967) and the Städtisches Museum, Leverkusen (1960), and had one-man shows at The Kootz Gallery, New York (1959–1964), Galerie Creuzevault, Paris (1958 and 1963), and Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (1954). His public commissions include a mural for the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (1968–69), and a mural for the sport center in Hannover for the 1972 Olympics. His work is included in major institutional collections worldwide, such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston among others.
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