The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi

by Tom Wolf

The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi is a long-overdue study of this complex artist's career. Born in Japan, Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889–1953) arrived in the United States as a teenager and studied art in New York. Although thoroughly integrated into American life, immigration laws prevented him from becoming an American citizen. The early success he achieved with his distinctive modern figural works developed into a compelling and powerful late style. This new survey, the first full retrospective of his works since the Whitney Show of 1948, features seventy of Kuniyoshi's best paintings and drawings, chosen from leading public and private collections in America and Japan. Tom Wolf is professor of art history, Bard College, New York, and the leading Kuniyoshi scholar.

Genres: Art

175 pages, Unknown Binding

First published April 7, 2015

Reviews

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful work and great writing about the artists life and art.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography of Issei painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often buy books that catalogue art exhibits, but I don’t often read them cover-to-cover. This book is different. As the title suggests, it is less catalogue than it is life story, and that story is compelling. Emigrating from Japan to America as a teenager in 1906, Yasuo Kuniyoshi fully embraced the West without ever really leaving his Eastern roots behind, rejecting binary thinking in favor of magnanimity toward the Japanese people (if not toward their government), at the height of World War II. As fresh as his artistic vision is, every canvas also carries melancholy within it. His work vibrates with this balance of opposing forces—simplicity and sophistication, sorrow and wit, fear and curiosity—suggesting that paradox is the central experience of life and, for Kuniyoshi, his true artistic homeland. I wish the Smithsonian exhibit that spawned this book could have traveled across the United States.