Japanese-born artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi’s career and art evolved from innocence and early success to complexity and disillusionment. Born in Japan in 1889, Kuniyoshi arrived in the United States as a teenager and studied art in New York. He came into prominence during the 1920s through his distinctive modern figural style, original subjects, and humour. His work became more sensuous and worldly after two long stays in Paris, as he painted moody, reflective women and still lifes with unusual objects. Kuniyoshi was thoroughly integrated into American life and the art world-in 1948 the Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of his work, the first retrospective that museum ever devoted to a living artist-but immigration law prevented him from becoming an American citizen. Classified an enemy alien after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he remained steadfastly on the side of his adopted country during the painful war years, working with the Office of War Information to create artworks indicting Japanese atrocities. After the war, Kuniyoshi developed a compelling late style, with bitter subjects and paradoxically bright colours. The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi is a welcome introduction to this complex artist’s entire career, featuring seventy of his best works from public and private collections in America and Japan. More than half a century after his death in 1953, this is a chance for a new generation to assess and enjoy Kuniyoshi’s life and art.
AUTHOR: Tom Wolf is Professor of Art History, Bard College, NY. An artist, he has had paintings exhibited at Artists Space, New York; Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art; Koslow Gallery, Los Angeles and Art Gallery of Western Australia. He is a recipient of Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship, and Winterthur Museum and Library Fellowships. 155 colour illustrations
