In Conversation: Lena Fritsch, Jason Waite, Nancy Lupo & Sam Thorne on Takesada Matsutani & Tetsumi

Why It Matters

Understanding Kudo and Matsutani’s responses to nuclear trauma and cultural upheaval illuminates the roots of today’s material‑focused, politically charged art practices, guiding collectors, curators, and scholars alike.

Key Takeaways

• Post‑war Japanese art wrestled with Western modernism versus tradition.
• Kudo’s “protective domes” echo nuclear trauma and consumer objects.
• Matsutani pioneered vinyl‑glue sculptures, later shifting to graphite and sumi.
• 1950s‑60s anti‑US base protests fueled avant‑garde collectives like Neo‑Dada.
• Contemporary artists revisit Kudo and Matsutani’s material experiments today.

Summary

The Houseworth conversation brought together curators Lena Fritz, Jason Waite, artist Nancy Lupo and Japan House director Sam Thorne to discuss the newly mounted London exhibition of Takesada Matsutani and Tetsumi Kudo. Both artists, born in Osaka in the 1930s, emerged from a turbulent post‑war Japan that was negotiating Western modernist influences against deep‑rooted traditional practices.

Speakers highlighted how Kudo’s early work used everyday objects—birdcages, circuit boards, terrariums—to create "protective domes" that symbolized the lingering trauma of the atomic bombings. Matsutani, trained in nihonga, turned to synthetic vinyl glue in the 1960s, inflating it into bulbous forms before later adopting graphite and sumi ink. Their relocations to Paris placed them alongside European avant‑garde figures, while their Japanese roots kept them tied to the radical collectives born from the 1959‑60 ANPO protests.

Memorable moments included references to Marcel Duchamp attending a Kudo performance, Matsutani’s collaboration with British printmaker Stanley William Hayter, and the Neo‑Dada manifesto declaring “Neo‑Dadaists are not human, not Japanese, thirsty for killing.” These anecdotes underscored the artists’ willingness to blur boundaries between body, material, and political dissent.

The dialogue underscored why Kudo and Matsutani’s practices are resurging: contemporary artists cite their material investigations as precedents for post‑industrial and ecological art. The exhibition and accompanying publication signal renewed scholarly and market interest, positioning the duo as pivotal figures in the global narrative of post‑war avant‑garde.

Original Description

Though Takesada Matsutani and Testumi Kudo were part of different movements, they are united by their relocation from Japan to Paris, France in the 1960s, where they became acquainted with each other, and by their rejection of established modes of making.

We joined curator Lena Fritsch, curator Jason Waite and artist Nancy Lupo for a conversation,, moderated by curator Sam Thorne, in celebration of our exhibitions ‘Takesada Matsutani. Shifting Boundaries’ and ‘Tetsumi Kudo. Microcosms’ at our London gallery.

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Hauser & Wirth is an international contemporary and modern art gallery with spaces in Zurich, London, Somerset, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Gstaad, St. Moritz, Monaco, Menorca, Paris and Basel.

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