In April 1959, Shōzō Shimamoto drew up a list of alternative painting tools in an article for the magazine Notizie, including, among others: ‘the cannon’ and ‘an empty bottle’. For a Gutai exhibition in the autumn of 1956, Shōzō Shimamoto spread out a roll of paper then placed a rock on top of it. He then filled bottles with lacquer paint and threw them at the stone with all his might until they burst. An eyewitness later described the entire event as ‘a work of terrible force and violence’ [1]. In Palazzo Ducale, which was created half a century later on November 13th, 2008, in the palace of the same name in Genoa, splinters from the broken bottles can still be seen embedded in the work. The moment when the glass breaks and the paint is hurled onto the paper becomes frozen in time – painting and action become one.

Shōzō Shimamoto (1928–2013)

Palazzo Ducale 11, 2008

Currently exhibited: Yes (Gallery: From Zero to Action)

Material: Lacquer and broken glass on canvas
Size: 166 x 169.3 cm
Inv-Nr.: B_484

Keywords:

Provenance

Previous owner: Fondazione Morra, Naples, Italy
Acquisition: Reinhard Ernst Collection, Phillips, London, 2019

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions:
2018
‘SHŌZŌ SHIMAMOTO: Spazio nel tempo’, Pallazo Sant’Elia, Palermo, Italy
2008
‘Shōzō Shimamoto’, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Italy

Learn more

In April 1959, Shōzō Shimamoto drew up a list of alternative painting tools in an article for the magazine Notizie, including, among others: ‘the cannon’ and ‘an empty bottle’. What can be painted with, what can be painted on and what can painting be? Brushes and canvas had become expensive after the Second World War and fundamental questions about the possibilities of artistic expression were being raised in Japan too. For an exhibition in the autumn of 1956, Shōzō Shimamoto spread out a roll of paper then placed a rock on top of it. He then filled bottles with lacquer paint and threw them at the stone with all his might until they burst. An eyewitness later described the entire event as ‘a work of terrible force and violence’ [1].

In Palazzo Ducale, which was created half a century later on November 13th, 2008, in the palace of the same name in Genoa, splinters from the broken bottles can still be seen embedded in the work. They were witness to an act of destruction which led to the creation of something new: painting. The moment when the glass breaks and the paint is hurled onto the paper becomes frozen in time. The section of the canvas – originally ten metres square – becomes a painting in its own right while also being an image of its spectacular creation – painting and action become one.

This approach is characteristic of the works of the artist group Gutai, co-founded by Jiro Yoshihara and Shōzō Shimamoto in 1954. In the sixth issue of the Gutai Bulletin, Shimamoto sums up his radically new approach in the phrase: ‘I think the first thing to do is to free colour from the paintbrush.’ [2]

Literature references

[1] Barbara Bertozzi: ‘Am Urspung der Neuen Avantgarden: die japanische Künstlervereinigung Gutai’, in: Gutai: Japanische Avantgarde 1954–1965, exh. cat. Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Darmstadt 1991, p. 17–63, here p. 48.
[2] Aimed to banish the paintbrush, in: Gutai Bulletin, Osaka, 1st April 1957, n. 6.