Katué Kitasono

Katué Kitasono
北園克衛
Kitasono (date unknown)
Born(1902-10-29)October 29, 1902
Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan
DiedJune 6, 1978(1978-06-06) (aged 75)
OccupationsPoet, photographer, editor
Known forFounding the VOU Club and the journal VOU; "plastic poems" (visual poetry)
Movement

Kitasono Katué (北園 克衛, Kitazono Katsue; October 29, 1902–June 6, 1978) was a Japanese poet, photographer, editor, and graphic designer associated with Dada, Surrealism, and visual poetry.[1] He founded the VOU Club and its journal VOU in 1935, and later became especially known for his photographic "Plastic Poems" or "Plastic Poetry".[2][3]

Life and career

Kitasono was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan. According to background material prepared for a LACMA exhibition, he originally aspired to become a painter, but gained early attention as an avant-garde poet.[3] Over the course of his career he also worked as a critic, graphic designer, magazine editor, and photographer.[4]

VOU

In 1935, Kitasono established the VOU Club and its avant-garde poetry journal VOU.[2] VOU was published in 1935–1940 and 1949–1978, and invited a revolving group of poets alongside artists, composers, and architects.[2] LACMA exhibition materials also emphasize Kitasono's activity as an editor and graphic designer for poetry and visual-art journals, including VOU.[5]

Among the VOU circle's members was the photographer and poet Kansuke Yamamoto.[6] In the postwar period, VOU-associated visual poets discussed in overviews of the group include Shōhachirō Takahashi, Motoyuki Itō, Toshihiko Shimizu, and Setsuko Tsuji.[7]

Surrealism, photography, and Plastic Poetry

LACMA exhibition materials describe Kitasono as a poet-artist whose early work was shaped by Dada and Surrealism, and emphasize his activity as an editor and graphic designer for poetry and visual-art journals, including VOU.[5] The same materials note that his "Plastic Poems" belong to the broader field of visual poetry and appeared across his graphic output, including book covers.[5]

A LACMA exhibition backgrounder further states that, in the mid-1950s, he began making what it calls "Plastic Poetry", a photographic genre he invented after being inspired by Surrealist photography by regular contributors to VOU.[3] The backgrounder describes these works as photographs of tabletop arrangements of unrelated elements staged against clean, open space, and notes that Kitasono used such photographic "plastic poems" to replace textual poetry especially in works intended for an international audience.[3]

Yoru no Funsui and other editorial work

In 1938, Kitasono co-edited the Surrealist poetry journal Yoru no Funsui with the poet-photographer Kansuke Yamamoto and other poets.[8]

Archives and legacy

Material from Kitasono's library and related avant-garde holdings is preserved as the "Kitasono Katsue Library" (北園克衛文庫) at Tama Art University Art Archives Center.[4]

Scholarship and translations

English-language scholarship on Kitasono includes John Solt's monograph Shredding the Tapestry of Meaning: The Poetry and Poetics of Kitasono Katue (1902-1978) (1999).[9] Solt also translated a selection of Kitasono's poems as Glass Beret: The Selected Poems of Kitasono Katsue (1995), which received the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature.[10][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ (in Japanese) Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, editor. 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers (『日本写真家事典』, Nihon shashinka jiten). Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. ISBN 4-473-01750-8
  2. ^ a b c "The Poet Designer". Unframed (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). 2 October 2013. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  3. ^ a b c d "Exhibition backgrounder: Kitasono Katue: Surrealist Poet" (PDF). Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  4. ^ a b "北園克衛文庫". 多摩美術大学アートアーカイヴセンター (in Japanese). Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  5. ^ a b c "Kitasono Katue: Surrealist Poet". Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  6. ^ "Kansuke Yamamoto (Apr 14–May 14, 2016)". Taka Ishii Gallery. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  7. ^ "Poetic Eyes". Kyoto Journal. 19 December 2022. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  8. ^ "Webなごやゆかりの歌人・詩人 令和7年度基準 4．山本悍右（やまもとかんすけ）" (PDF) (in Japanese). 名古屋市. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  9. ^ Solt, John (1999). Shredding the Tapestry of Meaning: The Poetry and Poetics of Kitasono Katue (1902-1978). Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 9780674060746.
  10. ^ Kitasono, Katué (1995). Glass Beret: The Selected Poems of Kitasono Katsue. Translated and edited by John Solt. Morgan Press. ISBN 1880723050.
  11. ^ "Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature". Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Columbia University. 1996. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
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