Poet, art critic, and artist. Born in Toyama Prefecture. A spiritual and theoretical pillar of avant-garde art before and after World War II. He came to know Surrealism through Junzaburo Nishiwaki and devoted his life to the introduction and spread of it. While studying at Keio University, he translated A. Breton’s “Surrealism and Painting” (Kouseikaku Shoten, 1930) and wrote a series of experimental poems considered masterpieces of avant-garde poetry. After graduating in 1931, he worked at PCL, a film production company until around 1936, while corresponded with Breton and others, translated surrealist literature and criticism, and also mentored a number of avant-garde artists’ groups. In 1937, he held the “Surrealism in Western Countries exhibition” (at the Nippon Salon in Ginza, etc.) with Chiruu Yamanaka. Although Surrealist group at the time was intensely hostile to the Comintern, he was arrested with Ichiro Fukuzawa as the communist sympathizers in April 1941 by the special higher police. After his release in November, with stay of execution, he was placed under probation and his activities were suppressed. After the war, he developed a variety of activities, sometimes he is considered as a “witness of the times”. He was trusted by young artists for his insightful reviews of exhibitions such as the Yomiuri Independents (1949-1963). From 1951 to 1957, at the request of Takemiya, an art materials shop in Surugadaishita, Kanda, he ran Takemiya Gallery and nurtured artists such as On Kawara and Yayoi Kusama through 208 exhibitions. He also looked after the activities of “Experimental Workshop” formed in 1951 by Shozo Kitadai, Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Toru Takemitsu, Joji Yuasa, and others as the one who named it. In 1958, he visited Europe as the commissioner of Japan for the Venice Biennale and voted for the Italian representative for sculpture L. Fontana in both the painting and sculpture categories, and then returned to Japan after meeting with Breton, M. Duchamp, S. Dali. After 1960, he shifted the focus of his writing from art criticism to exhibition preface, and also began to produce his own watercolors and Décalcomanies, held about six solo exhibitions. While resigning from public positions, such as the National Museum of Modern Art operating committee (1952-1964), he volunteered as a special counsel for Genpei Akasegawa’s “One-Thousand-Yen-Note Trial” (1965-1970). In 1963, he conceived the idea of opening a fictional “Object Shop” and asked Duchamp to baptize and to name the shop. Duchamp gave him the famous female pseudonym “Rose Sélavy”, and in return, he published “To and From Rrose Sélavy -Selected Words of Marcel Duchamp” (see below). He continued to engage in Duchamp’s research and passed away from a myocardial infarction.

His books include “Kindai Geijutsu (Modern Art)” (Mikasa Shobo, 1938); “Miro” (Atelier, 1940); “Genso Gakka-ron (Fantastic Artists)” (Shinchosha, 1959); “Yohaku ni Kaku (MARGINALIA)” (Misuzu Shobo, 1966); “Takiguchi Shuzo no Shiteki Jikken 1927–1937 (Takiguchi Shuzo’s Poetic Experiments 1927–1937)” (Shichosha, 1967); “Surrealism no Tameni (For Surrealism)” (Serika Shobo, 1968).

Collaborative works with artists include “Yosei no Kyori (Distance of a Fairy)” (Shunchokai, 1937) with Yoshibumi (Nobuya) Abe; “Sphinx" (Sadajiro Kubo, private edition, 1954) with Tamiji Kitagawa, Q-Ei and others; “To and From Rrose Sélavy -Selected Words of Marcel Duchamp” (Rrose Sélavy Tokyo, 1968) with Duchamp, J. Johns, J. Tinguely and Shusaku Arakawa; “Tezukuri Kotowaza (MA DE PROVERBIS A JOAN MIRO)” (Polygrafa, 1970) and “Miró no Hoshi to Tomoni (In the company of Miro’s Stars)” (Heibonsha, 1978) with J. Miró; “Kenganzu (Oculist Witnesses after Marcel Duchamp)” (Rrose Sélavy Tokyo, 1977) with Kazuo Okazaki.

(Text by Nobuhiko TSUCHIBUCHI)