Masashi Murai “Face”

Author birth and death: 1905 Ogaki (Gifu) - 1999 Tokyo
Year of production: 1988
Technique Material: Oil painting, canvas
Dimensions: 45.6 x 38.2 cm
Signature, date, etc.: Signature and date “MAÇANARI 1988” on the upper side of the back of the wooden frame; title “Face” on the upper right side; signature “Seisei” on the lower side.

Exhibition calendar: "Masamasa Murai Exhibition" Kamakura Gallery (Ginza, Tokyo) October 1988st - November 10th, 31.

Literature: Edited by Rintaro Terakado, “Ishii Collection I. Paintings in the University of Tsukuba,” University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Art, 2011, cat. 32.

Collection number: 2010-JO-IS013

Work description:
In this work, painted in thick oil paint, you can see blue, yellow, and white skin, a red right eye, and a gray left eye and nose within the outline indicated by thick black bands. From the mid-1950s onward, Murai particularly enjoyed painting works on the same subject, entitled ``Face.''Initially, many of his works depicted the parts of the face figuratively, but gradually more abstract faces were drawn, such as filling the outline with a solid color or filling it with small squares or circles. Become. From the 1950s to the 70s, both figurative and abstract expressions appeared repeatedly in Murai's "faces."This work is one of the three Faces that Murai exhibited in his solo exhibition at Kamakura Gallery (Ginza) in 1988, but it is the latest work on the same subject.The results of many years of research are fully demonstrated in the expression that boldly divides the screen into several large colored planes while retaining the shapes of the eyes and nose.