山本敬輔は、兵庫県姫路市の代々御殿医を務める家系に生まれ、当初は家業を継ぐべく進学していました。しかし、1929年に高等学校を中退し、画家を志して彫刻家の藤川勇造を頼って上京。1934年、第21回二科会展にてシュルレアリスム風の作品『狂態』で初入選を果たし、画家としてのキャリアを本格化させました。
戦前は「黒色会」や「絶対象派協会」といった先鋭的なグループに加わり、さらに二科会内の前衛勢力による「九室会」の創立メンバーとなるなど、新しい表現を模索する集団に身を置きました。戦時中の二度にわたる召集と兵役を経て、戦後は二科会の再建に尽力し「昴会」を創立。晩年まで二科会の理事を務めるなど日本の前衛画壇を牽引しました。
山本の表現スタイルは、時代と呼応しながら、技法と質感の両面で極端な転換を繰り返しました。デビュー当初は、流行していた超現実主義的な手法を用いていましたが、戦前期の抽象時代には、モンドリアンの影響を強く受け、方形の構成による幾何学的抽象へと転換。一方で戦後は、純粋造型よりも思想的なテーマを優先し、代表作『ヒロシマ（人）』では、ピカソの『ゲルニカ』を想起させる具象的表現へと舵を切りました。晩年には「アンフォルメル」の運動に呼応し、定型を脱した物質感を重視する表現へと至りました。
山本敬輔の意義は、戦後間もない1948年という段階で「ヒロシマ」という主題を、大画面の三部作として公に提示した点にあります。表現手法にピカソの影響が色濃いという批判はありますが、戦前の純粋抽象から戦後の社会的具象、さらに晩年のアンフォルメルへと変遷を重ねたその活動は、時代に即応しようとした日本人画家の模索を示す一つの例となっています。
Keisuke Yamamoto was born into a lineage of court physicians in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture. Although he initially pursued his education with the intent of inheriting the family profession, he pivoted in 1929, dropping out of high school to move to Tokyo. Driven by an aspiration to paint, he sought out the sculptor Yūzō Fujikawa for guidance. His formal career began in 1934 when his surrealist work, Madness, was selected for the 21st Nika Exhibition.
In the pre-war years, Yamamoto immersed himself in the avant-garde, joining groups such as the Black Colour Society and the Absolute Object Association. He was also a founding member of the Kushitsu-kai (Nine Rooms Society), a radical faction within the Nika-kai. Through these collectives, he stayed at the forefront of experimental expression. Despite being conscripted twice during the war, he returned to play a pivotal role in rebuilding the Nika-kai and founding the Subaru-kai. He served as a director of the Nika-kai until his later years, remaining a central figure in Japan’s avant-garde scene.
Yamamoto’s style evolved dramatically, echoing the shifting spirit of the times. His early work utilized the then-popular surrealist style, but he soon shifted toward a Mondrian-inspired geometric abstraction characterized by square compositions. Following the war, his focus moved from pure form to ideological depth. This is most evident in his masterpiece, Hiroshima (People), where he adopted a figurative style reminiscent of Picasso’s Guernica. In his final years, influenced by the Informel movement, he arrived at a style that emphasized materiality, liberated from traditional artistic conventions.
Yamamoto’s lasting significance lies in his early, bold engagement with the tragedy of Hiroshima, presenting it as a large-scale triptych as early as 1948. While some critics point to the heavy influence of Picasso in his technique, his trajectory—from pre-war abstraction to post-war social realism and finally to late-period Informel—serves as a definitive example of a Japanese artist’s quest to navigate the demands of a changing era.
