From DiscoverNikkei.org
Yasuo Kuniyoshi
Painter, printmaker & photographer (1889-1953)
- Biography: Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Smithsonian Archives of American Art: "Preliminary Guide to Resources on Asian Pacific American Artists at the Archives of American Art: Guide Entries, A-L"
- Exhibition: "Yasuo Kuniyoshi: Between Two Worlds" (Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, March 23-May 16, 2004)
- "Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889-1953) went to the United States at the age of seventeen and seldom returned to Japan, surviving major upheavals such as the Great Depression and World War II. The painter's works reveal that his hope was the beauty of human life that transcends political and cultural borders. Comprising about 130 pieces from home and the U.S., this is the first retrospective of Kuniyoshi in many years."
- Andrew Conti, Review. Metropolis (n.d.).
- "The exhibition portrays Kuniyoshi as an artist between cultures whose life and status as an outsider gave him a unique vision, and whose hopeful outlook is a model for an increasingly intercultural and uncertain world."
- "Yasuo Kuniyoshi" (Woodstock, New York; Woodstock Artists Association, August 2-October 30, 2003)
- "The exhibition is drawn from numerous museum and private collections, will include fifty paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs, providing an overview of the internationally-known artist's career, with particular attention to activities and collaborations with his many friends and colleagues in the Woodstock region. ... The exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death in 1953."
Works
Kuniyoshi's works in public collections and art galleries include the following:
- Yasuo Kuniyoshi Museum | 国吉康雄の世界 (Okayama)
- Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC)
- The Phillips Collection (Washington, DC)
- Two works by Kuniyoshi: Maine Family (ca. 1922-23), and Thinking Ahead (1945).
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC)
- Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC)
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
- Arizona State University Art Museum (Tempe, Arizona)
- "Yasuo Kuniyoshi's name inevitably raises the nationality question. Is he a Japanese artist? A Japanese-American artist or an American artist? This conundrum was to haunt the artist throughout his personal and professional life."
- Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
- Portland Museum of Art (Portland, Maine)
- Des Moines Art Center (Des Moines, Iowa)
- Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery (University of Nebraska, Lincoln)
- [http://www.julecollinssmithmuseum.com/advamart.html# Julie Collins Smith Museum of Art, Auburn University (Auburn, Alabama)