Artist

Yasuo Kuniyoshi

born Okayama, Japan 1889-died New York City 1953
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Yasuo Kuniyoshi, © Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum J0001791
Born
Okayama, Japan
Died
New York, New York, United States
Active in
  • Ogunquit, Maine, United States
  • Woodstock, New York, United States
  • Los Angeles, California, United States
Biography

Painter and photographer of art. His languid women in repose from the 1930s are significant, but he also painted still lifes and landscapes. He was the first president of Artists Equity and cofounder of the American Artists Congress.

Joan Stahl American Artists in Photographic Portraits from the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection (Washington, D.C. and Mineola, New York: National Museum of American Art and Dover Publications, Inc., 1995)

Artist Biography

After immigrating to the United States in 1906, Kuniyoshi lived briefly in Seattle, then moved to Los Angeles and subsequently to New York where he studied at the Robert Henri School, the Independent School, and at the Art Students League. Hamilton Easter Field, patron and friend of Robert Laurent, befriended Kuniyoshi and provided a studio in Maine in 1918 and 1919. Kuniyoshi supported himself as a photographer during the twenties and joined the WPA print division in the 1930s. He was active in the American Artists Congress until internal divisions split the group in 1940. A social realist during much of his career, Kuniyoshi has ranged stylistically from experiments with hard-edged volumetric form and distorted space to fluid strokes and soft edges akin to the work of his friend Jules Pascin. During the last five years of his life, especially, Kuniyoshi's sympathetic social realist themes gave way to brilliant color and once again to geometric designs.

Virginia M. Mecklenburg Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1987)

Videos

Exhibitions

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The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi
April 3, 2015August 30, 2015
Kuniyoshi emigrated to America from Japan as a teenager, rising to prominence in the New York art world during the 1920s to become one of the most esteemed artists in America between the two world wars.
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Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection
February 28, 2014August 16, 2014
Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection presents some of the most treasured artworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection, including works by Will Barnet, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Arthur Dove, Na
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Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Sara Roby Foundation Collection
This exhibition presents some of the most treasured paintings and sculpture from SAAM’s permanent collection, including artworks by Will Barnet, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, George Tooker, among others.
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Artist to Artist
October 1, 2021May 18, 2025
Artist to Artist features paired artworks, each representing two figures whose trajectories intersected at a creatively crucial moment, whether as student and teacher, professional allies, or friends.

Related Books

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The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi
Painter, photographer, and printmaker Yasuo Kuniyoshi immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1906 and began a journey through New York City, Europe, and Japan that forged his unique painting style. In The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Tom Wolf charts the artist's life and career through sixty-six of the artist's best paintings and drawings. What emerges is a richly complex portrait of an artist navigating the social, cultural, and political challenges of his adopted homeland.

Related Posts

Kuniyoshi teaching at Art Student League
06/09/2015
This is the second in a series of guest blog posts by the Archives of American Art's Mary Savig and Jason Stieber focused on the life of the artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Splash Image - Yasuo Kuniyoshi as Artist
05/26/2015
This is the first in a series of guest blog posts by the Archives of American Art's Mary Savig and Jason Stieber focused on the life of the artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi. The exhibition Artist Teacher Organizer: Yasuo Kuniyoshi in the Archives of American Art is on view in the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery, and is organized in conjunction with The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi on view at at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Image Not Available
04/03/2015
Opening today, the exhibition, The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi, looks at the evolution of the artist's work, and is the first comprehensive exhibition about the artist in the U.S. since 1948. It remains on view through August 30, 2015.