MORITA SHIRYU (1912-1998)

Morita Shiryu made his name in the post-war Japanese art history by revolutionizing the traditional Eastern art format – calligraphy. He valued the moment of true feelings in the process of creation, and for this reason, his emphasized on the expression of emotions, the movement and rhythm of life. He pushed the boundary between the West and the East, where his almost-abstraction-like artistic language liberated his works from the traditional approach of calligraphy; he also blurred the line between painting and calligraphy, as his works could be seen as both.
For a similar work by the same artist titled Chu, 1969, see Morita Shiryu,ed., The Works of Morita Shiryu Selected by the Artist (Kyoto: Bokusui Press, 1970), pl. 63.