Masaaki Yamada

Work C.p 119-2, 1962

1962

Born in Tokyo in 1929, Masaaki Yamada is a remarkable figure in Japanese Post-War art world. During his artistic exploration stretching for almost 6 decades, he coherently and meticulously explored abstraction in its several nuances, creating a complex and intimately connected corpus of artworks. Three major series are identifiable in his production: Still-Life (1948-55), in which he decomposed the forms of still lives into their essential lines and shapes to converge into semi-abstract compositions. Work (1956-95), characterized by geometric forms such as stripes and squares; in this series, that is regarded as the most accomplished in his production, he evolved from geometric forms similar to the ones that could be noticed in certain seminal works of Josef Albers to artworks characterized by softly delineated stripes in soft colors, in a style similar - but de facto pre-dating - Agnes Martin’s most recognizable paintings. Color (1997-2010), in which he explored subtle shades of a single color, different in each composition. While object of several exhibitions in Japan and abroad, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, it is mostly after the ground-breaking retrospective Exhibition “endless: The Paintings of YAMADA Masaaki” at The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo and Kyoto in 2016, that Masaaki Yamada started to gain traction and to be recognized worldwide.