While the exuberance of youth has played its part in countless artistic breakthroughs, the power of the midlife crisis should not be underestimated either, especially in a society where the wisdom or follies of age are afforded much more respect (or tolerance, as the case may be) than those of youth.
Such an awkward period of reflection and renewed experimentation is certainly evident in the career of Teppey Ujiyama (1910-86), an artist who finally evolved an abstract style that, some claim, has deep resonances with Buddhism.
For Ujiyama, whose work is now showing at one of my favorite stops, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, the crisis came toward the end of World War II. No doubt that was partially due to the death of his 6-year-old daughter, killed in the U.S. targeting of civilians in cities such as Fukuoka, where he was living at the time. But a larger part was artistic, as he struggled to find a satisfactory means of expression.