Yasuo Kuniyoshi, “Strong Woman with Child” (1925), oil on canvas (courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum, © Estate of Yasuo Kuniyoshi/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY)
WASHINGTON, DC — In 1948,
Yasuo Kuniyoshi was the first living artist to receive a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art and that was the last time his career was thoroughly explored before this year’s exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi chronologically retraces his art alongside the story of his life, as a Japanese immigrant in the United States restricted by xenophobia and labeled an “enemy alien” following Pearl Harbor.