There is a surprising dearth of material on Nakamura and little in terms of his own statements about his work. What is published of the latter is a peppering of fragments of conversations taken from articles. Nakamura’s most substantive interview about his art, with Joan Murray in 1979, has been published only in a master’s thesis. Nakamura was not the most forthcoming individual when discussing art, nor did he write much about it; this may have hindered more expansive studies, despite the fact that some excellent articles dealing with the artist have been written. Additionally, his contributions to the history of art in Canada are more often than not subsumed under the banner of the Painters Eleven.
Kazuo Nakamura in his studio, 1957, photographer unknown.
Painters Eleven at the Park Gallery, c.1957, photograph by Peter Croydon, 1957. © 2011 Lynda M. Shearer. All rights reserved.
selected Solo Exhibitions
1952
Picture Loan Society, Toronto.
1953
Hart House, University of Toronto.
1955-56
Nakamura: Recent Works, Jerrold Morris International Gallery, Toronto.
1956
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
Picture Loan Society, Toronto.
1958
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
Key Group Exhibitions
1952
Picture Loan Society, Toronto.
1953
Hart House, University of Toronto.
1955-56
Nakamura: Recent Works, Jerrold Morris International Gallery, Toronto.
1956
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
Picture Loan Society, Toronto.
1958
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
Cover of Kazuo Nakamura: The Method of Nature exhibition catalogue, 2001, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa.
Selected writings by Kazuo Nakamura
Woods, Kathryn Reid. Kazuo Nakamura. Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1974. Exhibition catalogue.
In this catalogue, Nakamura published his first and only major statement on his work, outside of interviews.
Critical Interpretations
Baele, Nancy. “Nakamura Uncovers the Inner Structure in Life.” Ottawa Citizen, October 25, 1993, B6.
Broad, Graham. “Painters Eleven: The Shock of the New.” Beaver 84, no. 1 (February/March 2004): 20–26.
Dault, Gary Michael. “Kazuo Nakamura: An Appreciation—Artist Was ‘Looking for the Grand Theory.’” Globe and Mail, April 26, 2002, R13.
———. “Kazuo Nakamura’s Lucky Numbers.” Globe and Mail, May 15, 1999, E2.
Grison, Brian. “Kazuo Nakamura.” Artichoke 17, no. 1 (Spring, 2005): 12–15.
———. “Oppression and Transcendence: The Iconography of Kazuo Nakamura’s Grids.” Master’s thesis, Carleton University, 2003.
Kazuo Nakamura: A Human Measure. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2004. Exhibition catalogue.
Kazuo Nakamura: The Method of Nature. Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2001. Exhibition catalogue.
Milroy, Sarah. “Adding and Abstracting with Nakamura.” Globe and Mail, November 24, 2001, R5.
Nowell, Iris. Painters Eleven: The Wild Ones of Canadian Art. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2010.
Tashme2: Early Works of Kazuo Nakamura. Toronto: Gendai Gallery, 2001. Exhibition catalogue.
Torizuka, Sakura. “Kazuo Nakamura, a Living Treasure of Canadian Art: Gendai Gallery Presents Tashme2, Early Works of Kazuo Nakamura,” New Canadian 65, no. 14 (2001): E1–E2.
Woods, Kathryn Reid. A History of the Painters Eleven. Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1970.
———. Kazuo Nakamura. Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1974. Exhibition catalogue.
Cover of Kazuo Nakamura: A Human Measure exhibition catalogue, 2004, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Key Interviews
Murray, Joan. Interview with Kazuo Nakamura. Unpublished manuscript, June 12, 1979, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery archives, Oshawa. Reproduced in Brian Grison, “Oppression and Transcendence: The Iconography of Kazuo Nakamura’s Grids.” Master’s thesis, Carleton University, 2003, appendix 2, 246–52.
———. Notes of a phone conversation with Kazuo Nakamura. Unpublished manuscript, late 1970s, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery archives, Oshawa.
Schlichting, Leonard. Letter interview with Kazuo Nakamura. Unpublished manuscript, March 20, 1978. Winnipeg Art Gallery archives. Reproduced in Grison, “Oppression and Transcendence,” appendix 2, 245–46.
Audio and video
Freedman, Harry. Images: A Symphony (1958). Performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Massey Hall, Toronto, 1960. (Impressions of Lawren S. Harris’s Blue Mountain, Kazuo Nakamura’s Structure at Dusk, and Jean Paul Riopelle’s Landscape).
Jenkins, Patrick, Richard Reeves, Lisa Morse, et al. Eleven in Motion: Abstract Expressions in Animation. Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS), DigiBeta video, 2009, 35 min. http://tais.ca/eleven-in-motion-abstract-expressions-in-animation/.
Nakamura, Kazuo. “Taped Interview.” August 15, 1967. http://ccca.concordia.ca/history/dorothy_cameron/english/nakamura.html.
Reid, Dennis. “Remembering Kazuo Nakamura.” The Arts Today, CBC Radio, April 17, 2002.