[1] Ichirō Hariu was born on December 1, 1925, in the city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture.
However, over time he became increasingly opposed to JCP policies and supported the emergence of avant-garde art that broke free from conventional styles of socialist realism and Communist party orthodoxy.
As early as 1953, Hariu complained that the socialist realist art promoted by the party "lacked originality.
"[2] In the late 1950s, Hariu became one of the first Japanese Marxist critics to embrace Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel.
[4] In 1961, Hariu was expelled from the party for joining other writers in criticizing the party's political and cultural policies,[5] and in 1962, he joined other art prominent critics in protesting the implementation of new restrictions on the previously freewheeling and unregulated Yomiuri Indépendant Exhibition.