Yasuo Kuniyoshi

American, born Japan, 1889 - 1953

Explore Selected Works

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Bombed Out, 1943, graphite with white heightening on Hammermill bond paper, Gift of Frank and Jeannette Eyerly, 1967.21.1

Bombed Out

Yasuo Kuniyoshi · 1943 · graphite with white heightening on Hammermill bond paper ·  Accession ID  1967.21.1

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Living American Art, The Little Pond, 1942, color screenprint on wove paper, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.2971

The Little Pond

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Living American Art · 1942 · color screenprint on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2008.115.2971

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, George C. Miller, American Artists Group, Two Pears and Strawberries—(Still Life), 1937, lithograph in black on wove paper, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.5272

Two Pears and Strawberries—(Still Life)

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, George C. Miller, American Artists Group · 1937 · lithograph in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2008.115.5272

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, George C. Miller, Hamilton Easter Field Foundation, Café No. 2, 1935, lithograph in black on wove paper, Gift of Jacob Kainen, 2002.98.139

Café No. 2

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, George C. Miller, Hamilton Easter Field Foundation · 1935 · lithograph in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2002.98.139

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Print Club of Cleveland, South Berwick, Maine, 1934, lithograph in black on wove paper, Gift of Jacob Kainen, 2002.98.364

South Berwick, Maine

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Print Club of Cleveland · 1934 · lithograph in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2002.98.364

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Atelier Desjobert, Flowers in Friend's Window, 1928, lithograph in black on wove paper, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Mary E. Maxwell Fund), 2015.19.1029

Flowers in Friend's Window

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Atelier Desjobert · 1928 · lithograph in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.19.1029

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, George C. Miller, Pears, Grapes, and Peach, 1927, lithograph in black on wove paper, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.2970

Pears, Grapes, and Peach

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, George C. Miller · 1927 · lithograph in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2008.115.2970

Two cows stand side-by-side to our right with a path leading to a row of buildings in the distance to our left in this dreamlike, stylized landscape painting. The forms are simplified, angular, and blocky, and seem to be overlapping, though most of the shapes painted with blended strokes. To our right, a black cow stands beyond a brown cow, both facing our left in profile. The heads are triangular and come to exaggerated points under curving horns, and the ribs of the cow closer to us are painted with curving black lines down the body. Their legs also taper to exaggeratedly pointed, tiny hooves. A milk jug sits to our right, behind them. The row of five buildings to our left are created with blocks of white, golden yellow, brick red, and black. A sprig of leaves and a lacy white flower grow to our left on the row of oatmeal-brown rocks jutting up along the bottom edge of the composition. An abstracted shirt-like form floats to our left against the background of teal green that covers the bottom two-thirds of the painting. The area above the buildings is painted with a field of silvery charcoal gray. The artist signed and dated the painting with tiny letters under the brown cow: "Y. Kuniyoshi 23."
Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Cows in Pasture, 1923, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Gift of George Biddle), 2014.136.94

Cows in Pasture

Yasuo Kuniyoshi · 1923 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.94

Bibliography

1948

  • Goodrich, Lloyd. Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1948.

1991

  • Kuniyoshi, Yasuo, and Yoshio Ozawa. Yasuo Kuniyoshi: Neo, Amerikan, atisuto no kiseki. Okayama, Japan, 1991.

1996

  • Myers, Jane, and Tom Wolf. The Shores of a Dream: Yasuo Kuniyoshi's Early Work in America. Exh. cat. Amon Carter Museum of Art, Fort Worth; Portland (Maine) Museum of Art. Fort Worth, 1996.

2015

  • Wolf, Tom M. The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Exh. cat. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, 2015.