Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1937, Matsutani studied Nihonga, or traditional Japanese painting, at Osaka Municipal High School of Arts and Crafts (now known as Osaka Prefectural Kogei Senior High School). He experimented with the creation of organic forms with vinyl adhesive, which was still a novel medium in the 60s and rarely used as the principal medium in artworks. He subsequently joined the Gutai Art Association. In 1966, at the age of 29, Matsutani traveled to France to study under a scholarship from the French government and has continued to work in France and Japan to this day. From around 1980, he began to create pieces where he used a pencil to black out the canvas. He has received international acclaim for his serene palette composed mainly of black and white, and for his organic, sensual forms in vinyl adhesive. Major solo exhibitions include “Matsutani Waves” (Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, 2000), “MATSUTANI Takesada—Stream—” (The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, 2010), “Takesada Matsutani. A Matrix” (Hauser & Wirth, 2013), “MATSUTANI CURRENTS” (Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, 2015), “Takesada Matsutani” (The Centre Pompidou, 2019), and “Takesada Matsutani” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2024). He participated in “VIVA ARTE VIVA” for the 57th International Art Exhibition, at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. His works are held in the collections of major institutions around the world, including the Centre Pompidou (Paris), M+ (Hong Kong), the Rachofsky Collection (Dallas), the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Victoria and Albert Museum, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, among others.