Chuzo Tamotzu

Chuzo Tamotzu was a self-taught painter who lived in New York City before settling in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1948.

Chuzo Tamotzu
Born(1888-02-19)February 19, 1888
Kagoshima, Japan
DiedMay 18, 1975(1975-05-18) (aged 87)
Santa Fe, New Mexico
NationalityAmerican, Japanese
Alma materSenshu University
Known forPainting

Tamotzu was born in Kagoshima, Japan in 1888. At Senshu University in Tokyo he was educated in political science. Self-taught in sumi-e, he left Japan in 1914 to further his study of art throughout Asia and Europe. Tamotzu moved to the U.S. in 1920 where befriended several other artists, such as Philip Evergood, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and John Sloan. Tamotzu served on the board of the Society of Independent Artists when Sloan became the society's president. During the Great Depression, Tamotzu worked for the Public Works of Art Project in New York, but was denied participation in the Works Progress Administration because he was not an American citizen.[1]

Tamotzu served in the American military during World War II as a combat sketch artist, and eventually became an American citizen.[2] In 1947 Tamotzu became a founding member of the New York Artists' Equity Association.

In 1974 Tamotzu converted the studio he had been renting in Sante Fe from John Sloan into his own gallery.[3]

Tamotzu's art is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and New Mexico Museum of Art.[4]

Early life

Chuzo Tamotzu was born in the village of Toguchi on Amami Ōshima island in Japan.[1] He was raised by his father along with his sisters and older brother. After attending middle school, Tamotzu was interested in the oriental and occidental arts, which he pursued with the help of private tutors. He was also an adept dancer and a skilled musician by playing the Shakuhachi, a Japanese flute. At Senshu University in Tokyo he was educated in political economics for two years. In 1914, he decided to leave Japan to study oriental and European arts by traveling to China, Korea, India, Borneo, France, Belgium, England, and Holland, where he got a closer look to the work of the great masters by visiting the museums.[5]

Career

Tamotzu moved to New York in 1920 to pursue his art career and resided there for twenty one years. He mastered the art techniques of Japanese Sumi ink, pastel chalk, oils, and tempura. Tamotzu continued his studies and began to gain reputation. He exhibited his work in Whitney Museum of American Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Society of Independent Artists, and The American Contemporary Artists' Gallery.

In 1953, he organized an exchange art presentation between a gathering of New Mexico primary school kids and Hiroshima school children to promote altruism and a better understanding between these countries.

From 1950 to 1959 The Museum of New Mexico held annual exhibitions of his art.

As a member of Artists' Equity Association, he contributed into passing a legislation for the formation of the New Mexico Arts Commission.[5]

Personal life

In 1948, Tamotzu married Louise Kates and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. He continued working on his art, participating in exhibitions and giving demonstrations and talks in schools. He was also a member of the Alliance for the Arts.

In 1967, he returned to Japan and visit his family, which led to the creation of sixty sketches of Japan and several number of paintings.

In 1974, his studio was converted into the Tamotzu Gallery where he continued exhibiting his art.[5]

References
  1. Tamotsu, Chuzo (1957). Chuzo Tamotsu pictorial collection.
  2. "Perspectives from Postwar Hiroshima: Chuzo Tamotzu, Children's Drawings, and the Art of Resolution". Archived from the original on 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  3. Falk, Peter (1999). Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975 : 400 Years of Artists in America. Madison, CT: Sound View Press. p. 3248. ISBN 0932087574.
  4. Dawdy, Doris (1981). Artists of the American West :A Biographical Dictionary. Chicago, IL: Swallow Press. p. 288. ISBN 0804003521.
  5. "Chuzo Tamotsu Papers 1924-1995". rmoa.unm.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
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