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Paper short abstract:

Fujitomi Yasuo (1928-2017) is a visual poet whose works often combine writing and drawing. This presentation will give a general overview of his creations associating poetry and image, before discussing some examples where he plays with the graphic possibilities of writing in a significant way.

Paper long abstract:

Fujitomi Yasuo (1928-2017) was a prominent visual poet and the author of a multi-faceted work including collections of poetry, children's books, books on football, and translations of the American poet E. E. Cummings. From a very young age, he was interested in the graphic arts, and went on producing drawings that were exhibited in galleries. His poetic work is often at the intersection of writing and drawing. In addition to reflective texts on the links of the Japanese writing with the image, such as "Keshiki no yoi ji" (Fujitomi Yasuo shishû, Gendaishi bunko, n. 57, 1973), Fujiomi published poems based on plays with writing (for example the use of a series of graphically similar kanji within the same poem), and others combining text with drawn elements. An example is e-shi, images-poems, that he wrote in his book Ippatsu (1995). This presentation will give a quick overview of his creations associating poetry and image, before focusing on some examples where he plays with the graphic possibilities of writing in a significant way. I will recall the importance of his research in the 1960s, a period in which Fujitomi joined two avant-garde groups, VOU (1935-1978) and ASA (1964-1977), led respectively by Kitasono Katsue (1902-1978) and Niikuni Seiichi (1925-1977). Within the field of visual poetry itself, these two groups defended two different conceptions of the relationship between text and image. We will then show how, through his personal interpretation of drawing, Fujitomi never ceased to search for his own path, which blurs the boundaries between writing and drawing. In his works, written characters are made to be very visible. Fujitomi’s use of writing illustrates one of the fundamental ideas of visual poetry, treating the word like a material, but it suggests as well that his work, which may still offend the reading habits of many poetry readers, only serves as a reminder of another essential fact: poetry, once it is written, cannot exist without a reflection on its creative tools, namely writing itself and its diversity of media.