Yasuo Kuniyoshi “Sisters Surprised by a Whale”
Author birth and death: 1889 Okayama – 1953 New York (USA)
Year of production: 1923
Technique Material: Oil painting, canvas
Dimensions: 38.4×56.3cm
Exhibition history:Recent Paintings and Drawings by Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Daniel Gallery, New York, January 1924; "New York Melancholy: Yasuo Kuniyoshi Exhibition" Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Okayama Museum of Art, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto 1989-90, cat. 20 Sisters Surprised by a Whale, col. pl. p. 64; “Yasuo Kuniyoshi Exhibition” National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Toyama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, 2004, cat. 21 “Sisters Surprised by a Whale” col. pl. p. 54; “Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of Modern Art Collection Exhibition + “Ishii Collection Exhibition from the University of Tsukuba” Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki, October 2007-10, 5, cat. 28;The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, April 02–August 29, 2015; "Tsuguharu Foujita x Yasuo Kuniyoshi: Two Parallel Careers—Reunion After 2025 Years," Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, 08, cat. KXNUMX "Sisters Surprised by a Whale."
literature:Whitney Museum Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, New York, 1948, Microfilm Roll No. 668; "YASUO KUNIYOSHI: The Trajectory of a Neo-American Artist" edited by Fukutake Shoten, 1991, Fukutake Shoten, no. 97 "Sisters Surprised by a Whale" col. fig. p. 77; “Ishii Collection Research 2: Yasuo Kuniyoshi”, edited by Rintaro Terakado and Kazumi Akama, Faculty of Art, University of Tsukuba, 2013, col. pl. p. 9; Cecile Whiting (Toshiharu Isodono) Cécile Whiting, “Yasuo Kuniyoshi's Venus at the Shore,” pp. 2-2013, 11, pp. 27-52; Bert Winther-Tamaki, "Sisters Surprised by a Whale - Yasuo Kuniyoshi's Choice as an Appraiser of Beauty in America," Ishii Collection Research 70: Yasuo Kuniyoshi, 2, pp. 2013-28 (Bert Winther-Tamaki , “Sisters Frightened by a Whale: Yasuo Kuniyoshi's Choice as an Arbiter of Beauty in America,” pp. 39-71); Edited by Rintaro Terakado, Ishii Collection I. Paintings, University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Art, University of Tsukuba, 86. , cat. 2011, col. pl.; Supervised by Toshiharu Isodono, edited by Rintaro Terakado, University of Tsukuba Art Collection Ishii Collection A Feast of Beauty (Shunposion), University of Tsukuba Press, 8, Frontispiece 2021; Bart. Windsor-Tamaki, “The Sisters Surprised by the Whale: Yasuo Kuniyoshi’s Choice as an Appraiser of Beauty in America,” Feast of Beauty, 2, pp. 2021-77; Cecile Witing (Toshiharu Isodono) Translated by Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Sisters Surprised by a Whale and Venus on the Seaside, A Feast of Beauty, 98, pp. 2021-99.
Collection number: 2005-JO-IS003
Work description:
Born in Okayama, Kuniyoshi moved to the United States alone at the age of 17.After moving through various jobs and studying at the Los Angeles School of Art and the Art Students League, he exhibited his work in solo exhibitions and exhibitions in the United States and received high acclaim. In 1919, he met art critic and collector Hamilton Easterfield, and with his help he set up a summer studio in Ogunquit, a seaside town in Maine, in the northeastern United States, where he studied the ocean, farms, animals, and more. He created many works on the theme.Kuniyoshi's style during that period was characterized by the depiction of stocky figures and extreme perspective, and this work is no exception.At the same time, ``sex'' and ``women'' are important themes for him, and they are reflected in this work as well in the juxtaposition between the young sisters, who serve as the source of life, and the whale that appears and disappears on the surface of the water.
