Mavo – Murayama Tomoyoshi.

Murayama, Tomoyoshi. 村山知義

Genzai no geijutsu to mirai no geijutsu : ichimei ishikiteki kōsei shugi eno dōtei.

現在の藝術と未來の藝術 : 一名, 意識的構成主義への道程

(The Art of the Present and the Art of the Future).

Tōkyō : Chōryūsha Shoten, Taishō 14 [1925]

2, 6, 262 pages, [10] pages of plates (1 in color)

20 x 13,5 cm. Original brochure designed in color typography, untrimmed copy.

EUR  2.800

One of the rarest books by Murayama Tomoyoshi (1901–1977), a multi-talented artist, playwright, and one of the leaders of the radical artist group Mavo. Murayama traveled to Berlin (1922–1923) to study philosophy. However, he immersed himself in the European avant-garde, exhibited at the Der Sturm gallery, and was influenced by artists such as Kandinsky and Klee. Due to his involvement in the proletarian theater movement and Marxist beliefs, he was arrested several times by the Japanese authorities in the 1930s and 1940s.

Lit.:

Gennifer Weidenfeld, Mavo. Japanese Artists and the Avant-Garde. 1905-1931. London 2002, page195ff, with image of the cover.

Thomas Hackner, Dada und Futurismus in Japan, München 2001, page142ff.

Very nice specimen, tiny defect at the top of the spine, 0.5 x 0.7 cm.