Who is Jiro Yoshihara?

Jiro Yoshihara (吉原 治良, Yoshihara Jirō, January 1, 1905 – February 10, 1972) was a Japanese painter, art educator, curator, and businessman.

Mainly known for his gestural abstract impasto paintings from the 1950s and Zen-painting inspired hard-edge Circles beginning in the 1960s, Yoshihara’s oeuvre also encompasses drawings, murals, sculptural works, calligraphy, ink wash paintings, ceramics, watercolors, and creations for interim arts.

Yoshihara was a key figure of postwar Japanese art and culture, due to his piece of legislation as painter, art educator, promoter of the arts, and networker amongst the arts, commerce, and industry in the Kansai region and beyond, and, especially, as the leader of the postwar highly developed artist outfit Gutai Art Association, which he co-founded in 1954. Under Yoshihara’s guidance, Gutai explored radically experimental approaches, including external exhibitions, performances, stage shows, and interactive works. Fueled by Yoshihara’s global ambitions, Gutai developed artistic strategies to communicate internationally and total themselves into a globalizing art world.

Aside from his artistic activities, Yoshihara was in force in the meting out and government of his family’s cooking oil issue Yoshihara Oil Mill, Ltd.