Painted in 1961, Inner Structure reflects a key transitional period in Kazuo Nakamura’s practice, shortly after the disbanding of Painters Eleven. While his earlier works of the 1950s often explored the lyricism of landscape, here Nakamura turns inward, beginning to visualize the hidden frameworks that underpin both nature and existence. The title itself signals his new direction — a search for underlying order expressed through pattern, rhythm, and structural form rather than overt representation.

In this canvas, Nakamura applies oil paint with a controlled yet searching hand, building a surface that suggests both organic texture and systematic design. Shapes and tonal shifts interlock to create a sense of quiet cohesion, as though revealing the molecular or cosmic patterns beneath the visible world. This work marks one of the early steps in the journey that would later culminate in his celebrated Number Structure paintings of the 1970s through 1990s.

Inner Structure captures the artist’s enduring preoccupation with the relationship between science, mathematics, and art. By seeking to visualize what lies beneath surface appearances, Nakamura elevates painting into a means of contemplating universal order. This oil on canvas, measuring 24 x 31.25 inches is signed and dated on the stretcher, stands as a significant work from the early 1960s — a moment when his ideas about structure began to crystallize into a unique artistic language.