15 Facts About Tsuruko Yamazaki

Tsuruko Yamazaki was a Japanese artist, known for her bold artistic experiments with abstract visual styles and non-traditional materials.

Tsuruko Yamazaki was a co-founder and the longest-standing female member of the Gutai Art Association, an avant-garde artists' collective established by Jiro Yoshihara.

Tsuruko Yamazaki had been an active member of the Gutai group since its founding in 1954.

Tsuruko Yamazaki regularly participated in Gutai's Outdoor Exhibitions, performance events, and Gutai Art Exhibitions.

Tsuruko Yamazaki later received solo exhibitions at Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, Galerie Almine Rech in Paris, and Take Ninagawa in Tokyo.

Tsuruko Yamazaki remained a member of Gutai until its dissolution in 1972.

Tsuruko Yamazaki died of pneumonia on June 12,2019, at the age of 94.

Tsuruko Yamazaki was known for her daring use of saturated colors and abstract visual languages.

Tsuruko Yamazaki was interested in unconventional materials like tinplate, mirrors, and vinyl.

At 'The First Gutai Art Exhibition' in 1955, Tsuruko Yamazaki displayed Tin Cans, a sculpture made from stacking some 25 tin cans on the floor of the exhibition space.

At the four edges of the panel, Tsuruko Yamazaki mounted small rectangular mirrors, which reflected viewers' bodies and the exhibition space in fragments.

Tsuruko Yamazaki's installation created for 'Gutai Group Room' at the Shinko Independent Exhibition in 1956 similarly aimed at redefining how viewers see the world.

The installation was a crumpled sheet of orange-red cellophane, which Tsuruko Yamazaki hang over the entrance to the Gutai Group Room.

Tsuruko Yamazaki used color-gel lights to underscore further the metallic texture and the uneven surface of the works.

Since the late 1990s, Tsuruko Yamazaki had returned to her earlier exploration of tinplate, creating abstract paintings with liquid dye on tin panels.