As Japan re-entered the world stage in 1952 as an independent nation, its artists were faced with the challenge of creating work of international relevance. On the institutional front, the works of Japanese artists were sent to major international exhibitions such as the biennales at Venice and São Paulo and the Guggenheim International Award Exhibition. On an individual level, many Japanese artists resuming the pre-war practice of studying in Europe, or in North America’s emerging art centre, New York. Resounding Spirit presents work by artists from both groups.
 
           Despite their relative success, breaking unto the international art scene was difficult for many Japanese artists, as Westerners had preconceived notions of what Japanese art should look like. Artists, critics, and collectors from Europe and America valued the “Eastern” qualities of Japanese contemporary art, such as its references to calligraphy. Thus, Japanese artists had difficulty attracting critical attention unless they were perceived to be maintaining a “legitimate” attachment to the East. Kenzo Okada, a Japanese artist living in New York in the 1950s, recognized that American critics desired a ratio in Japanese painting of “two parts East and one part West”. Ignoring these pressures, the avant-garde Gutai group made work that we now recognize as highly innovative, but that was critically unsuccessful when introduced in New York.
 
           Signal works: Kazuo Shiraga’s Dragons Emerging from the Forest, oil on canvas(1961); Takesada Matsutani’s Ashiya Red, oil on canvas (1962); Yoshihara Jiro’s Blue Calligraphic Lines and Dark Blue, oil on canvas (1963); and Kenzo Okada’s Rocks and Waterfall, oil on canvas (1956).