If you have ever wondered how Japanese calligraphy arrived at works with no characters in them at all, this book gives you the full story. It traces the life and thinking of Nankoku Hidai (1912-1999), the calligrapher who created the first avant-garde works in which no words were written, and who became a foundational figure in Japanese abstract expression.
The book follows him from childhood and youth, through the emergence of his shinsen line works and the birth of what he called the art of the line, and on to his search for the essential nature of calligraphy as an art form. Later chapters cover his first journey to the United States, where he traveled alone to speak with American artists about the power of the brush, his years teaching abroad, his third American trip and the international attention that followed, his exchanges with fellow artists of the line and his European travels, and his study of ancient stone inscriptions and rubbings at the University of California. His work entered major collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and M+ in Hong Kong, and drew press coverage as an abstract idiom the West had not seen before.
Drawing on a large body of source material, this is the first study to bring together his solitary career, his achievements, his works, and the ideas behind them, closing with a reflection on East and West, past and future. The text is in Japanese, and the reproductions of his work let you follow the development of his line visually.
Published by Tenrai Shoin. 224 pages, 2024 publication.
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