Atsuko Tanaka was born in Osaka in 1932. She was a central figure of the Jiro Yoshihara led Gutai movement which started in 1955. She joined the group with Kazuo Shiraga and (her future husband) Akira Kanayama. During her time with the Gutai movement she created world-renowned, innovative and avant-garde artworks, however, the passion and energy with which she created did not stop after Gutai came to an end. After resigning from Gutai in 1965 she continued to work in the Kansai region, namely Osaka and Nara, and continued being an artist right up until her death in 2005. Even after her death her work was exhibited at the 2007 Festival Documenta in Kassel, one of the world’s most prestigious exhibitions. She has also been the focus of world-wide retrospectives, more than any other artist of the Gutai movement.

Her performance of wearing the “electric dress” from 1955-56 became one of Tanaka’s most iconic works, shocking the art scene abroad and presenting them with a strong sample of the avant-garde works of Japan’s Gutai movement. It is however her painting works which she continued for the next 50 years after the “electric dress” which we want to focus on. 

In her lifetime of work, the same spirit echoes throughout each, from her iconic “electric dress’, through her colourful collection of paintings.

We are proud to present a collection of Atsuko Tanaka’s abstract paintings of multi-coloured circle and line motifs. We have no doubt you will be impressed by them and they will call you to appreciate Tanaka on a new level, and only as a Gutai artist, put also as a powerful painter in her own right.

We are exhibiting 7 paintings spanning from the time Tanaka left Gutai in 1966 until her death in 2005. This is therefore a rare opportunity to view, in an intimate space, a collection of her work spanning several decades.