Ryuji Tanaka II

Ryuji Tanaka II is the second publication from Axel Vervoordt Gallery dedicated to the life and work of this remarkable Japanese artist. Tanaka II was published on the occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition, "In Pursuit of the Expanse of Nature" at Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Kanaal (September 2024 – March 2025).

As a sequel to the first volume, this monograph focusses on Tanaka’s late work from the 1980s and 1990s. It contains new essays by Japanese scholars Reiko Tomii and Shigeo Chiba who help deepen the art world’s knowledge of the artist and his later practice.

The publication brings fascinating insight into the artist’s thought process with unique diary excerpts and showcases his unedited sketchbook, made outdoors during his trips in nature that later served as a basis for his paintings in his studio. This research was made possible thanks to the willingness of the artist’s estate to open up their archive for research.

Ryuji Tanaka was a painter who dedicated his life to finding a link between nihonga, traditional Japanese-style painting, and avant-garde, international abstraction. Overall, he was looking to evoke the sublime: the vastness of the celestial, the chaos of the cosmos. He had a masterly devotion to nature that he pursued his entire life.

Publishers: Axel Vervoordt Gallery and MER Books, an imprint of Borgerhoff & Lamberigts
Hardcover. Japanese binding