Inui Tai

Inui Tai ( Japanese 乾 太 ; born January 3, 1929 in Tatsuno , Hyōgo Prefecture ) is a Japanese woodcut artist. He belongs to the Sosaku-Hanga movement (Creative Print Movement).

life and work

Inui Tai grew up sheltered in a modest, rural environment. His childhood is marked by moral tradition. The Second World War not only affects the urban centers, but also areas that have been almost intact since the 20th century. Inui Tai experiences the war years as a time of great privation. In addition, he finds himself at the mercy of the loss of a lived culture. Even as a schoolboy he refuses to simply accept this loss.

Under the influence of the writings of Okakura Kakuzō (1862-1913) and especially of Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961), he began to be interested in cultural history. With the intention of preserving the past for the future, he gathers traditional everyday objects mainly made of wood. At the age of 14, he began training in the traditional workshop of the artist Nomura Tadashi. He received his first lessons in wood carving from him. In addition, he deals on his own with painting and calligraphy of the 18th and 19th centuries. The elitist literary paintings made a deep impression. Art desperados and cultivated eccentrics freed from academic manners and adaptation. They confront an idealized past with their own present.

1945 is the year of decision for Inui Tai. In Kyoto - in the Museum of Modern Art - it is unexpectedly shaken, captured and devoured by a monumental screen (1.7 × 5.3 m). The 24 roughly hewn woodcuts by Munakata Shiko (1903–1975) mounted on it radically oppose the usual aesthetics of the woodcut, the gigantic format is overwhelming and the image medium of the screen, anchored in Japanese tradition, has an alienating effect. In the young Inui Tai, shock and revelation merge. He decides to become an artist; wants to make woodcuts. In order not to cloud the clarity of his decision and to be able to go his own way, he renounces artistic lessons; never joins an artist group. Later he never accepts students himself, although he has been asked several times. He rejects dependencies. The years from 1945 to 1949 are the years of youthful obsession and the first creative power. The success and public recognition that began with the first exhibition in the Art Museum in Himeji in 1949 prove him right. He receives the culture award of the city of Himeji and the art award of the education authority, which he also receives in the five (!) Following years for his exhibitions.

The imagery that Inui Tai presents to the viewer can be divided into three large groups: landscapes, folk festivals and poetry images. Inui Tai is a master of abundance. He is not interested in emptiness as a means of interior design, especially in landscape painting. In his landscapes people, animals, vehicles, ships cavort restlessly. The viewer is denied comfortable tranquility. The fact that the artist chooses daring perspectives underlines this impression. The impression of restlessness solidifies in frequently recurring depictions of folk festivals. Rural shrine or temple festivals that go back to archaic fertility rites. Up to the present day they are characterized by unbridled exuberance. These folk festivals are accompanied by dances and feasts and culminate in a festive procession with shrines, which are carried through the streets by young men (or women) with loud, rhythmic calls. Inui Tai is enthusiastic about the restlessness, the severity of tradition, the intoxicating experience of the community and in his folk festival presentations lets the crowds march and piles them up to form breathtaking landscapes.

How consciously and with humor Inui Tai deals with the past and the present becomes clear in his poetry pictures. In these interwoven image-text compositions, he makes use of the fundus of classical (or even modern) poetry. He contrasts the verses with the images of his own presence. This can lead to irritations and uncertainties. In Inui Tai's work, tradition and past are not “the good old days”, but always part of the present.

Awards and solo exhibitions (selection)

• 1949 Culture Prize of the City of Himeiji
• 1949 Art Prize from the Hyogo Education Authority (also 1950–1954)
• 1974 Motomachi Gallery in Kobe
• 1975 Art Museum in Himeji
• 1976 Akatombo Gallery in Tatsuno
• 1981 Exhibition in his own studio in Tatsuno
• 1987 Himeiji Art Museum (Hyogo Prefecture)
• 1989 Himeiji Art Museum (Hyogo Prefecture)
• 1992 Sanyo Gallery in Himeji
• 2002 Culture Prize of the City of Tatsuno
• 2002 Hyogo Prefecture Tomoshibi Culture Prize

Public collections (selection)

• National Gallery of Australia , Canberra , Australia
• Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art , Kansas , USA
• Hyogo Prefecture Art Museum, Japan
• Hirohata Library in Himeji