Yasuo Mizui

Mizui shifted his focus from mechanical engineering to sculpture because he believed in the transformative power of art—something without borders or conflicts.

[3] After graduating from the Tokyo University of the Arts in 1953, Yasuo Mizui received a scholarship from the French government to continue his studies at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1953 to 1958.

This period of growth prepared him for participation in International Sculpture Symposium and the creation of large monumental works under France's 1% for Art program.

The "Macrocosm" symbolizes the vastness and vitality of nature—depicting elements such as the Sun, Forest, Mountain, Sea, and River, transcending individual existence.

[8] Tadao Takemoto, translator of André Malraux's Anti-Retrospective (Shincho Sha, Japan, 1977), often mentioned Mizui in his writings.

During the creation of the artwork, André Malraux, who served as the French Minister of Cultural Affairs under Charles de Gaulle and was known for his profound appreciation of art, visited the Olympic Village.

[10] His first commission from the French Ministry of Culture came in 1968, for which he created Jet d'eau pétrifiée (Petrified Waterjet) at Bordeaux University’s Department of Law.

For this work, Mizui employed a unique technique derived from his engineering background, using molds made from expanded polyester material, cut with electrical resistance.

Mizui first participated in a symposium in Austria in 1960, where he discovered the allure of working with large stone blocks, some as tall as 4 meters.

In 1962, he created Clef d'amour (Key of Love), a stone sculpture measuring 4 x 0.9 x 0.6 meters, near the Berlin Wall in Germany.

The symposium had a symbolic slogan: “The wall to the east, creating a sculpture to the west.” This event was awarded the German Critics' Prize.

I was convinced: Nachi Falls had truly pierced the earth, and its spirit rebounded into the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.” At the age of 70, Mizui realized that the concept of Diagonal Yin and Yang was a division between Japan and France—two paths, two incomplete cultures.

Mizui described this dialogue as a continuous interaction between Yin and Yang, where opposition, answers, and mutual embrace emerge through his sculptural expression.

For him, elements like rivers, houses, or feminine forms embodied Yin, while flowers, trees, animals, and patrons symbolized Yang.

[16] Diagonal Yin Yang is a series of 40 stone sculptures created in Japan for an exhibition at Gallery Tatuno Hiranomachi in Osaka in 1965.

[17] In 1985, during a project with Seita Onishi, a Japanese businessman and philanthropist, Mizui became deeply interested in actor James Dean.

[18] Mizui worked on the James Dean Center project for three years, creating sketches and sculptures, as well as visiting the United States.

This sculpture took Mizui three years to complete and consists of 150 tons of stone extracted from the quarry in Lacoste, the village where he lived.

[21]Jean Rosenberg, a science professor at the University of Poitiers, commented on Mizui's sculptures, saying: In his non-figurative art, the temporal dimension is absent.

While similar techniques such as pressed oil, starch-pressed, and decal exist, Mizui’s approach and choice of materials are distinct.

[23] In 1984, international fine arts critic Sakae Hasegawa commented: When I saw this painting for the first time, I thought it was a picture of a snowy mountain.

[25] Cosmos (stone, 15m x 18m x 0.06m, 1970, Lycée Louis Armand, Villefranche-sur-Saône)[26] consists of 360 flagstones of Comblanchien, each 6 cm thick, firmly fixed to the wall.

[28]ZIG and ZAG (stone, 2m x 0.4m x 0.4m, 1973,Savannah College of Art and Design, Lacoste) was created after Mizui first worked with blocks of polystyrene, cutting them to visualize the final shape of the sculpture.

The New York painter Bernard Pfriem opened an art school to bring American students to the center of Lacoste, France.