Composition (1965)

Born in Kitakyûshû in the south of Japan, Tabuchi studied at the Imperial University of Tokyo between 1946 and 1951. Exhibited widely in Japan through his early twenties, he shot to prominence by winning the much-esteemed Okada Prize in 1949.

Inspired by the avant-garde, he decided to move to Paris in 1951. He joined the Sorbonne and formed long-term friendships with Pierre Alechinsky (1927-), Karel Appel (1921-2006) and Asger Jorn (1914-1973) which greatly influenced his work. From 1953 he exhibited at the Virtual Reality exhibition, and at the Salon de Mai from 1955.

In the mid-50s Tabuchi abandoned his surrealist tendencies adopting an abstract style, consisting of wildly colourful markings; ‘an explosion of vegetal and chromatic where the suppleness of the lines and shapes come together spontaneously to create a dynamic yet stable composition.’ (Georges Boudaille, Yasse Tabuchi Exhibition: Cimaise March-April 1956).

In 1959 Tabuchi settled in the village of Vauhallan in the department of Essonne, where he lived and worked until his last years. He returned to Japan in 1960 for a major solo exhibition at the Tokyo Gallery. In 1985 he was awarded the médaille d’Officier des Arts et des Lettres in France. Tabuchi in Vauhallan aged 88.

Yasse Tabuchi’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, the record price being 42,792 USD for Apparition, sold at Ader in 2017.