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Tadashi Asoma - US/Japanese Artist; B. 1923, Iwatsuki, Japan

"Reclining Nude" 1962 - Oil on Canvas
Size: 19.9 X 24.1 in. 
Signed LRC:  '62 Asoma
Provenance: Gabriel Rosenfeld, Chappaqua, NY (French Legion of Honor)
Sold at Swann Galleries, NYC, March 2000

The Signature is 正 (the Japanese Kanji Symbol for Tadashi), and then below Asoma ‘62.

Tadashi Asoma 

Tadashi Asoma is a wonderful American success story. Born in 1923 in pre-war Japan, he received his higher education at Saitama Teachers College, Urawa (a Saitama ward), the Bijitsu Gakko (Tokyo University of the Arts), Tokyo. In 1952 he held his first exhibit in Tokyo, and then four later he was awarded a Japanese Government scholarship to study in Paris, at the Grand Chaumiere.

After studying in Paris he arrived in New York City, where he continued studying at the Art Students League. Tadashi Asoma’s first major show was held in 1961 at the Japan Society in New York and San Francisco. These early years in New York were spent living in an apartment near the East Village (619 East 11th Street). He had a studio close by where he painted during the day. During the evening hours he worked at a restaurant to support his family - a very Japanese thing to do. 
 
The painting illustrated here comes from his early break-out years, where he becomes intrigued with America’s contemporary art scene. The painting: Reclining Nude (1962) is totally abstract with paint drips and blurred lines, it is reflective of his early work, yet still in his style today. He has loved the power of color over the years, and his current work still takes on bright, bold yellows, greens, and purples, as demonstrated by his 2012 show at the Wally Findlay Galleries, entitled: Momijigari. The Wally Findlay show also demonstrated how he loved the seasonal landscapes that express the wide-array of colors, another Japanese attribute.

Asoma is known to contemporary art collectors, he has had numerous one-person exhibits in New York, with extensive exhibits in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He is included in prominent corporate collections including American Express, Atlantic Richfield, IBM, the Marriott Corporation and Toshiba America. Now in his early 90s and still living in a little village north of Manhattan, his artistic career has lasted over six decades.

Other Notable Collections:
  • Andrew Dickson White Museum
  • Nelson Museum
  • San Diego Museum of Art
  • The Foundry School Museum
  • Tokyo Central Museum, Tokyo
  • Ginza Matsuya, Tokyo
  • Port Washington Public Library
Asoma Gallery/Dealer in the 1960s:
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"Great art collecting need not be based on a fortune; instead education, experience and eye are more important" The Waller-Yoblonsky Blogspot.
Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art is a research collaborative, working to track artists that got lost and overlooked due to time, changing styles, race, gender and/or sexual orientation. Our frequent blogs highlight artists and art movements that need renewed attention with improved information for the researcher and art collectors.  #waller-yoblonskyblogspot #tadashiasoma #asoma #japaneseart
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