Yasuo Kuniyoshi

Name Yasuo Kuniyoshi
Born September 1 1889
Died May 14 1953
Birth Location Okayama, Japan
Generational Identifier

Issei

Issei artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889–1953) rose from poverty to become a prominent figure in the art world prior to World War II and one of the best known Japanese Americans. Because he was based in New York, he avoided incarceration in American concentration camps, and he contributed to the U.S. war effort authoring anti-Japanese militarist propaganda for the Office of the Coordinator of Information and the Office of War Information . These efforts were well publicized by the American media. He resumed his art career after the war and remains a prominent and oft exhibited artist long after his death.

For More Information

Chang, Gordon H., Mark Johnson, and Paul Karlstrom, eds. Asian American Art History, 1850–1970 . Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2008.

Wang, ShiPu. Becoming American?: The Art and Identity Crisis of Yasuo Kuniyoshi . Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2011.

Yasuo Kuniyoshi papers at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/yasuo-kuniyoshi-papers-9175/more . [Includes many online items.]

Last updated April 1, 2014, 4:25 p.m..