Kumagai Morikazu
1948
Oil on Canvas
From Mr. I’s Collection
Kumagai Morikazu
1880-1977
Born in Gifu Prefecture. In 1900, he entered the selective course in Western-style painting at Tokyo School of Fine Arts, where he was taught by Kuroda Seiki and Fujishima Takeji. He graduated at the top of his class. He continued to exhibit at the prestigious Nika Exhibition and also taught at the Nika technique private cram-school. After the war, he established a style of painting characterized by bright colors, abstraction, simplicity and elegance, also known as the ‘Morikazu style’. In his later years, he rarely went out and instead painted familiar animals and plants through careful observation, breaking new ground in oil painting, ink painting and calligraphy.