Mavo, Issue 6

Year: 1925

Format: Journal cover

Media: Paper

Technique(s): Lithography

Designer Overview
Tomoyoshi Murayama

January 18, 1901 - March 22, 1977

Japan

In 1921, twenty year-old Murayama’s interests was occupied by philosophy and he enrolled at Tokyo Imperial University to pursue it further. Unable to further his studies in philosophy, he soon left to study art at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. It was in Berlin that Murayama was invited to participate in several art exhibitions, in particular the First International Art Exhibition where Lissitzky and Theo van Doesburg announced their plans for an international Constructivist movement. Inspired, Murayama returned to Japan in 1923 and began his introduction of Constructivism through a series of his own exhibitions.

The Constructivists idea of detachment from reality led Murayama to develop his own style and later founded the Mavo movement. Mavoists practiced what Murayama termed “conscious Constructivism,” using collaged compositions of mixed media to express the art of modern everyday life and emotions.