Yoshiya Takaoka (Tóquio, Japão 1909 - São Paulo SP 1978)
Yoshiya Takaoka was a painter, draftsman, caricaturist and set designer. He studied painting with Shin Kurihara in Tokyo between 1921 and 1925. In 1925, he moved to Brazil with his family to work on coffee plantations. He worked as a house painter and caricaturist. In São Paulo, between 1926 and 1929, he attended the Escola Profissional Masculina do Brás and, from 1931, began to frequent the Grupo Santa Helena. In 1934, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he refined his painting with Bruno Lechowski (1887-1941) and at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes (Enba). He was a member of the Núcleo Bernardelli, alongside José Pancetti (1902-1958), Edson Motta (1910-1981) and Milton Dacosta (1915-1988), among others. He took part in the Núcleo's fourth exhibition in 1935, and that same year joined the Grupo Seibi in São Paulo, formed by artists of Japanese origin. He returned to São Paulo in 1944.
In 1948, he founded Grupo 15, also known as the "Jacaré" group, with Tomoo Handa (1906-1996), Tamaki (1916-1979), Flavio-Shiró (1928), Antônio Carelli (1926), Geraldo de Barros (1923-1998) and others. From 1950 to 1959, he was a member of the Grupo Guanabara in São Paulo. He took part in the 1951 and 1959 editions of the Bienal Internacional de São Paulo. Between 1952 and 1954, he lived in Paris, where he attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and studied mosaic with Gino Severini (1883-1966) in the Leonardo da Vinci course. In 1953, he took part in the 1st Tokyo Biennial. The Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (Masp) held exhibitions in his honor in 1955 and 1980.
Critical Commentary
A painter of Brazil's urban and coastal landscapes, Yoshiya Takaoka played an important role as a teacher and cultural agitator. He was active in the main artistic associations from the 1930s to the 1950s. He associated with the artists of the Grupo Santa Helena, with whom he developed affinities, above all an interest in post-impressionism and Italian painting. But, dissatisfied with the São Paulo art scene, he decided to study painting in Rio de Janeiro. He attended the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes - Enba and took classes with Bruno Lechowski (1887 - 1941), from whom he learned about European painting.
He took part in the open studio of the Núcleo Bernardelli, sharing the group's interest in "artistic making" rather than in the political or intellectual questions so prominent in the context of the 1930s. The genres practiced there are those that characterize his production: drawing, plein-air painting, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits. From this practice comes his conception of painting as craft, and of the task of "resolving the picture" as the painter's main challenge. But this environment may also be the source of his translation of the investigations of modern painting into traditional compositional schemes, such as the use of strong diagonals and of an ascending perspective in organizing the elements of the landscape, giving weight to the farthest planes, as well as the gestural brushstroke. These characteristics can be seen in works such as Morro do Pinho [Pinho Hill], 1948, and in the watercolor Barco no Cais [Boat at the Wharf], 1942.
Takaoka kept his distance from the controversies between moderns and academics, figurative and abstract artists. Nevertheless, he was a point of reference for the generation of artists who followed concretism and moved on to abstraction. His influence can be identified in works such as Geraldo de Barros's (1923 - 1998) photographic self-portrait of 1947, which shows elements of the studied and self-ironic pose present in Takaoka's many self-portraits, which, together with his watercolors, remain of great interest.
Critiques
"His canvases, which reveal a cool and objective draftsmanship, occupied many exhibition walls, always showing well-defined interests, such as the rows of houses of colonial towns and the self-portrait. European sources, from a certain Renoir-like impressionism to the nervous draftsmanship of Hodler, combined with the innate visuality of the Oriental, marked this painter, who has much in common with the figurative Brazilian artists of his generation".
Walter Zanini
ZANINI, Walter. In: PONTUAL, Roberto. Dicionário das artes plásticas no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1969.
"Few Brazilian artists devoted themselves so completely to art as Yoshiya Takaoka did. Perhaps his own modest origins led him to become convinced that he had a mission to fulfill: the mission of conveying, in drawings and paintings, the emotions that nature never ceases to offer to the sensibility of those who know how to admire it. Takaoka was able to capture with freshness and talent all the themes he explored, always with poetry and technical mastery. (...) In the dozens of canvases, drawings and watercolors he worked on, Takaoka focused on scenes and aspects of our old towns. He never tired of going around historic places such as Ouro Preto, Sabará, Mariana, Tiradentes, Parati and so many others to recreate what his eyes captured. He was also a constant visitor to the old neighborhoods of the São Paulo of bygone days, like Rossi Osir, Mário Zanini, Rebolo and others. He painted all the time. A survey of the work produced by the artist, born in Tokyo in 1909 and settled in São Paulo as early as 1925, where he formed groups, guided future artists and took part in some of our main artistic movements, shows that he never set aside his loyalty to figurative work. For many, he was no more than an academic. The fact is that Takaoka avoided copying what was in front of him. Rather, he gave a recreative touch on the very spot where he sketched his works. It should be noted that he always composed houses and landscapes where they were found, inventing little in the studio. (...) Rural and urban scenes, and horses - these especially - inspired hundreds of watercolors and drawings by Takaoka. They are works of mature execution and strong color, the synthesis of almost half a century of someone devoted to a single, demanding goal: Art. And in it the artist found himself completely".
Ivo Zanini
ZANINI, Ivo. Takaoka, o pintor que recriou a natureza. In: YOSHIYA Takaoka: vida, obras, depoimentos. São Paulo: MASP, 1980. color. p. 7-8.
"Of the company of Japanese artists who formed and established the school of Japanese painting in São Paulo, today flourishing and appreciated, Yoshiya Takaoka was the master. One of the first to settle in the capital, and therefore a forerunner and guide on how to adapt and behave for the fellow countrymen who were only just arriving. To numerous colleagues he was a cordial teacher who, having extraordinary experience in pictorial and watercolor technique, offered lessons and help. Good-natured, patient, always ready to lend his remarkable assistance in every way, Takaoka can be said to have been a characteristic figure in the São Paulo of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the teacher of many young people, among them the great Mabe when he came from Lins, Jorge Mori and Wega. He exercised his painting in the figure and in the landscape with boldness and Oriental sensibility, yet very much integrated into Western ways: a Japanese in spirit, carrying out his activity in the metropolis, which owes him a great deal. Respected, sincerely loved by all who knew him, reserved, a being whom Carlyle would have placed among the taciturn silent ones, dear Takaoka leaves a grateful memory and the name of an artist among the best that Japan has given Brazil".
Pietro Maria Bardi
BARDI, Pietro Maria. Apresentação. In: YOSHIYA Takaoka: vida, obras, depoimentos. Edição Museu de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo SP); apresentação Pietro Maria Bardi. São Paulo: MASP, 1980. 74p. il. p.b. color. p.5.
Solo Exhibitions
1936 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Palace Hotel
1937 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Le Connoisseur
1948 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Domus
1948 - Curitiba PR - Solo
1952 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Clube Cerejeira
1954 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Salão do Cine Niterói
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Dezon
1958 - Campos do Jordão SP - Solo
1961 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Automóvel Club
1962 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Casa do Artista Plástico
1963 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Casa do Artista Plástico
1974 - São Paulo SP - Yoshiya Takaoka: Recent Oils and Watercolors, at A Ponte Galeria de Arte
Group Exhibitions
1935 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Tamaki, Yoshiya Takaoka, at Livraria Le Connoisseur
1935 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 4th Núcleo Bernardelli Salon, at the group's headquarters in the basement of ENBA
1937 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 43rd National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1938 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 44th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA - silver medal
1943 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Anti-Axis Exhibition, at Museu Histórico e Diplomático - Palácio Itamaraty
1944 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Exhibition of Self-Portraits, at MNBA
1946 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Painters Go to the Escola do Povo, at ENBA
1946 - São Paulo SP - 12th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Prestes Maia - small silver medal
1946 - São Paulo SP - 10th Salon of the Visual Artists' Union, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1948 - São Paulo SP - 14th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Prestes Maia - State Governor acquisition prize
1948 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 54th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1949 - São Paulo SP - 15th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1949 - São Paulo SP - Grupo 15 Exhibition, at IAB/SP. Departamento de São Paulo
1950 - São Paulo SP - 1st Grupo Guanabara Exhibition, at Galeria Domus
1951 - São Paulo SP - 16th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1951 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Grupo Guanabara Exhibition, at IAB/SP. Departamento de São Paulo
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão do Trianon
1952 - São Paulo SP - 1st Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Clube Sakura
1953 - Tokyo (Japan) - 2nd Tokyo Biennial
1954 - Paris (France) - Salon de la Société Nationale de Beaux-Arts
1957 - São Paulo SP - 22nd São Paulo Fine Arts Salon - São Paulo City Hall Prize
1958 - São Paulo SP - 4th Grupo Guanabara Exhibition, at ACM
1958 - São Paulo SP - 23rd São Paulo Fine Arts Salon - Legislative Assembly Prize
1958 - São Paulo SP - 4th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Salão do Cine Niterói
1959 - São Paulo SP - 24th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Prestes Maia - São Paulo City Hall Prize
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5th Grupo Guanabara Exhibition, at ACM
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Paulista de Cultura Japonesa
1960 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition of the Seven, at Salão da Cooperativa Agrícola de Cotia
1960 - São Paulo SP - 25th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Prestes Maia - Comendador Mario Dedini Prize
1960 - São Paulo SP - 6th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Paulista de Cultura Japonesa
1961 - São Paulo SP - 26th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon - small gold medal
1961 - São Paulo SP - 10th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1962 - Bragança Paulista SP - Exhibition of the Six, at Clube Dois
1962 - São Paulo SP - 27th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon - 2nd São Paulo State Government Prize
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Paulista de Cultura Japonesa
1964 - São Paulo SP - 8th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Paulista de Cultura Japonesa
1964 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at MAM/RJ
1964 - São Paulo SP - 29th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon - 1st São Paulo State Government Prize
1965 - São Paulo SP - 9th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Paulista de Cultura Japonesa
1965 - Washington (United States) - Nippo-Brazilian Paintings Today
1965 - Oakland (United States) - Nippo-Brazilian Paintings Today
1965 - Tokyo (Japan) - Nippo-Brazilian Paintings Today
1966 - São Paulo SP - 31st São Paulo Fine Arts Salon - large gold medal
1966 - São Paulo SP - 10th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Paulista de Cultura Japonesa
1966 - São Paulo SP - Japanese-Brazilian Artists, at MAC/USP
1968 - São Paulo SP - 12th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1969 - São Paulo SP - 13th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1970 - São Paulo SP - 14th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1971 - São Paulo SP - 36th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon - State Governor Prize
1972 - São Paulo SP - 1st Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1973 - São Paulo SP - 1st Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1973 - Tokyo (Japan) - 1st Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1973 - Osaka (Japan) - 1st Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1973 - Atami (Japan) - 1st Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1973 - Brasília DF - 1st Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1973 - São Paulo SP - Painting Exhibition of the Japanese Industry Fair, at Palácio das Convenções do Anhembi
1973 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1974 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1975 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Galeria Azulão
1975 - São Paulo SP - 4th Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1976 - São Paulo SP - 5th Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1977 - São Paulo SP - The Groups: The 1940s, at Museu Lasar Segall
1977 - São Paulo SP - Grupo Seibi - Grupo Santa Helena: 1935 to 1945, at MAB-FAAP
1978 - São Paulo SP - Art and Its Processes: Paper as Support, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1978 - São Paulo SP - Immigration 70, at Centro Campestre do Sesc
Posthumous Exhibitions
1980 - São Paulo SP - Yoshiya Takaoka: Retrospective, at Masp
1981 - Parati RJ - Yoshiya Takaoka: Retrospective, at Galeria Maramar
1981 - São Paulo SP - Yoshiya Takaoka: Watercolors, at Museu Lasar Segall
1982 - São Paulo SP - Seascapes and Riverscapes, at Museu Lasar Segall
1982 - São Paulo SP - From Modernism to the Bienal, at MAM/SP
1982 - São Paulo SP - Núcleo Bernardelli Exhibition: Brazilian Art in the 1930s and 1940s, at Acervo Galeria de Arte
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação das Artes de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Times of War: Hotel Internacional, at Galeria de Arte Banerj
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Times of War: Pensão Mauá, at Galeria de Arte Banerj
1987 - São Paulo SP - Spring, at Liberdade Garô Galeria de Arte
1987 - São Paulo SP - 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition, at Chapel Art Show
1988 - São Paulo SP - Life and Art of the Japanese in Brazil, at Masp
1988 - São Paulo SP - 15 Years of the Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at Fundação Mokiti Okada M.O.A
1988 - Manaus AM - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1988 - Belém PA - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Fundação Rômulo Maiorana
1988 - Recife PE - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Fundação Joaquim Nabuco
1988 - São Paulo SP - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at MAB-FAAP
1988 - Curitiba PR - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at MAC/PR
1988 - Porto Alegre RS - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Margs
1988 - Brasília DF - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at MNBA
1992 - São Paulo SP - Grupo Guanabara: 1950-1959, at Renato Magalhães Gouvêa - Escritório de Arte
1998 - São Paulo SP - Grupo Seibi, at Jo Slaviero Galeria de Arte
1998 - São Paulo SP - São Paulo: The View of Japanese-Brazilians, at Museu Lasar Segall
1998 - São Paulo SP - São Paulo Iconography in Private Collections, at Museu da Casa Brasileira
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Seascapes in Major São Paulo Collections, at Museu Naval e Oceanográfico. Serviço de Documentação da Marinha
1999 - São Paulo SP - On Paper, Graphite and India Ink, at Banco Cidade
2001 - São Paulo SP - Japanese-Brazilian Art: Moments, at Galeria Euroart Castelli
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Watercolor, at Centro Cultural Light
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art and Society: A Controversial Relationship, at Itaú Cultural
2004 - São Paulo SP - New Acquisitions: 1995 - 2003, at MAB-FAAP
Source: Itaú Cultural
