Accession Number
1969/2.2

Title
Rainbow Landscape

Artist(s)
Ay-Ō

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1966

Medium & Support
lithograph on paper

Dimensions
20 3/4 in x 29 5/16 in (52.71 cm x 74.45 cm);22 1/8 in x 217 1/2 in (56.2 cm x 552.45 cm);25 in x 34 in (63.5 cm x 86.36 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Clark

Label copy
Ay-Ô (Iijima Takao)
Japanese, born 1931
Rainbow Landscape
Showa period (1926–89)
1966
Color lithograph on paper
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Clark, 1969/2.2

Ay-Ô has become famous as the “rainbow man” for his use of colored stripes in his work—which represent an attempt to combine modern art with the traditional Japanese aesthetic, inspired by nature. Some of his pieces depict the traditional subject matter of ukiyo-e—Edo period (1615–1867) prints and paintings of the “floating world”—such as beautiful women, landscapes, and folktales, in his cubist multi-colored style.

In 1958 he moved to New York and became one of the founders of the Fluxus movement, an international network of artists, composers, and designers who attempted to remove the barriers between art and everyday life through visual art, performance, and sound. Fluxus artists believed that the authority of museums should not determine the value of a piece of art, challenging the concept of fine art. Ay-Ô’s contribution to the group involved not only his famous rainbow prints, but also three-dimensional works that engaged the viewer’s senses and encouraged an active involvement.

Subject matter
Ay-Ô has become famous as the “rainbow man” for his use of colored stripes in his work, which represent an attempt to combine modern art with the traditional Japanese aesthetic, inspired by nature.  

In 1958 he moved to New York and became one of the founders of the Fluxus movement, an international net- work of artists, composers, and designers who attempted to remove the barriers between art and everyday life through visual art, performance, and sound. Fluxus artists believed that the authority of museums should not determine the value of a piece of art, challenging the concept of fine art. Ay-Ô’s contribution to the group involved not only his famous rainbow prints, but also three-dimensional works that engaged the viewer’s senses and encouraged active involvement. 

Physical Description
The print features bright horizontal bands of the colors of the rainbow starting with red on top, progressing to yellow and green in the middle, and returning to a deep red at the bottom of the print. 

Primary Object Classification
Print

Primary Object Type
color print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
Fluxus
Non-Representational Art
abstraction
chromatic colors