Tiger Tateishi Biography

Tateishi has left a large collection of works ranging in all kinds of media and genres from oil paintings, illustrations to ceramics, all of which he considered of equal importance. However, he is most notable for his approach to his painted works, where he applied the time and temporal rules of comic book illustration to large, panoramic works of art that depict multiple scenes at once. Tateishi’s work is expansive, dynamic, colourful, and entirely fanciful. With surrealism at its core, his focus is often on the evolution of Japan, from traditional values to modern technology, in the shape of various symbols and patterns littered across his imagined landscapes. The overlapping of traditional mythological symbols and futuristic patterns create artwork that is timeless. His ideas are still relatable, their visual impact still fresh, and its Tateishi’s tendency to display time in this way that makes his works take on an element of epic story telling.

As a graduate of Musashino Art University’s Junior College of Art and Design, Tateishi began his career as a painter when he took part in the Yomiuri Independent Exhibition in 1963. Soon after in 1965, he began to draw manga for magazines and achieved success rather quickly again by becoming serialised in a number of popular magazines. In 1969 Tateishi and his wife moved to Italy, where they stayed until 1982 before moving back to Japan. It was whilst Tateishi was in Italy that he began to experiment with paintings separated into frames, like those used in manga production.  He also began expanding into the illustration and design industries, including working with designer Ettore Sottsass in his studio creating a number of design and architectural drawings. In addition, links can be drawn between Tateishi’s artistic developments and the evolution of Japanese manga in the 20th century. It has also been commented that Tateishi was influenced by the avant garde movement of the 1960s, and it is without a doubt that there are ties with the Japanese surrealist movement which also had an impact on manga at the time.

His works allow us to peek into the inner workings of Tateishi’s mind, laying out his thoughts, worries, fears and hopes regarding himself and Japan in the future. His oil paintings are vast and detailed, with Shinto Gods and Mt. Fuji making numerous appearances alongside his iconic white tiger. A good example of his use of symbols is Fuji and matsu-tree like a tiger (1992) which show just the snow-capped top of Mt. Fuji, and a pine tree in the shape of a running tiger looming over vacant space of futuristic desert and a deep blue sky. Samurai and Noh masks emerge over a futuristic fantasy in Fuji and Wars (1992), showcasing his anxiety towards modern Japan, and what kind of country it will become. These fears are just as valid now, and Tateishi brilliantly displays contrasts alongside each other, such as modernity and tradition, human and machine in a panoramic setting that looks alive.

Other than his wide, landscaped paintings, Tateishi has also produced a number of oil paintings that are more clearly influenced by manga as they are actually split up into frames, such as A House of Scenic Beauty (1992). He also plays with perspective in works such as Troy Fuji (1992) which have tiny figures crowding around a giant, futuristic Trojan horse, with his ever present Tiger coiled around in the top, half- off the main scene. This painting takes cues from Japanese artistic history with golden clouds that obscure part of the landscape, separating the foreground from the background.  Ahead of his time, Tateishi’s oil paintings are a spectacle that takes you on a journey to a place of fantasy, that is at once familiar, yet also frighteningly peculiar. We all see some of our own fears displayed in his works, and that is part of what makes Tateishi’s paintings so powerful.

Tateishi’s work has been shown in numerous museums internationally. These include: Chiba City Museum of Art (Chiba, Japan); Takamatsu City Museum of Art (Kagawa, Japan); Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (Hiroshima, Japan); Tagawa Museum of Art (Fukuoka, Japan); The National Museum of Art Osaka (Osaka, Japan); Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan); Museum of Modern Art (Saitama, Japan); Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art (Hokkaido, Japan); The Miyagi Museum of Art (Miyagi, Japan); Aomori Museum of Art (Aomori, Japan); Chukyo Univresity (Aichi, Japan); Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan); Fuchu Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan); Deutsche Telekom (Tokyo, Japan); Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan) and Museé d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris, France); Olivetti (Milan, Italy), Alessi (Omegna, Italy) and the Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA).

Public Collection:
Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba
Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
Tagawa Museum of Art, Fukuoka
The National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka
Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido
The Miyagi Museum of Art, Miyagi
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
Aomori Museum of Art, Aomori
Chukyo University, Aichi
Olivetti, Milan
Deutsche Telekom, Tokyo
Alessi,Omegna
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo

Text by Rosemary Pennells