Yuichi Inoue

Yuichi Inoue, born in Tokyo in 1916, was a contemporary calligrapher as well as a teacher. After studying at the Tokyo Prefectural Aoyama Normal School, now known as Tokyo Gakugei University, he devoted 41 years to teaching from 1935 to 1976. Inoue famously asserted, “Calligraphy is everyone’s art. With the characters that we use every day, anyone can be an artist, thereby elevating calligraphy to a special status among the arts,” (from “The Liberation of Calligraphy” in “Bokubi” issue 9, 1952), thus eschewing a career solely as a professional artist to instead explore calligraphy’s potential. His participation in the 1957 São Paulo Biennale with pieces like “Gutetsu” garnered attention from Herbert Read, a British art critic, leading to a feature in Read’s “A Concise History of Modern Painting” in 1958. Within the burgeoning movements of Abstract Expressionism in late 1940s New York, Read positioned Inoue amongst prominent artists like Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, marking a pivotal moment where calligraphy, an art form with Chinese origins, was framed within abstract art discussions. Recommended by German curator Kaspar König, Inoue showcased his work at Documenta 2 in 1959 and by 1971, launched his inaugural solo exhibition coinciding with the release of his first collection, “Book of Flower Scripts.” Internationally acclaimed by the 1950s, Inoue continued to be prodigiously creative until the 1980s, known for his experimental techniques like freezing ink or incorporating glue. His approach not only involved a deep investigation into ink but also a relentless pursuit of new expressions and methodologies. Inoue’s method, using oversized brushes drenched in ink to create monumental characters on vast sheets of Japanese paper, resulted in mesmerizing ink blocks, brimming with an indomitable spirit that captivated viewers, transcending their literal meaning. His dynamic work, which melds the qualities of painting and sculpture, distinctively departs from traditional calligraphy forms. Inoue once stated, “No art is as simple, direct, yet profound, and as imbued in everyday life as calligraphy,” positioning him as an exceptional figure who transformed the basic act of writing into a form of art.