Okada Kenzo (American/Japanese, 1902–1982) | A Wind Jar (Kaze Tsubo)

Project Description

Description: 38.1 cm high. Signed Ken
Catalogue note: Okada Kenzo was a Japanese-born American painter. He is best known for his lyrical Abstract Expressionist works made using muted shapes of colour, which hover like collages over the canvas ground. His aesthetics were rooted in Zen Buddhism, 17th century Japanese screen painting, and a devotional interest in the natural world. Born in in Yokohama, Japan, Kenzo was interested in art from a young age. He studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and later with Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita in Paris and exhibited in the 1927 Salon d’Automne. After returning to Japan, Okada continued using an Impressionist style to paint landscapes. It was not until he moved to New York in 1950 and became acquainted with Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko that he produced his abstract works. Okada died in 1982, Japan. His works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Provenance: Acquired from Christie’s, Sale 15026, Lot 38, Invoice no. DB6403193. The property of Dr. Richard and Ruth Dickes
Catalogue no.: 2017S0117-OK