TADASHI KAMINAGAI

(Japanese-French, 1899-1982)

BAHIA HARBOR, BRAZIL

Oil on Canvas laid down on Board

13½ x 16¼ Inches

Signed Lower Left, "T. Kaminagai" and Dated 1953

 

Born in Hirashima, Tadashi Kaminagai was first called to the contemplative life of a Buddhist monk before deciding to pursue a career as an artist. In 1927, following his new calling, he moved to Paris and lived in the Cité Falguière where he worked as a painter and framer. He was soon made welcome in the fashionably bohemian art circles of Montmartre, first becoming friends with his country-man, Tsuguharu Foujita, who then introduced him to other prominent members of the first generation of the School of Paris, including Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard.

 

From 1929, Kaminagi exhibited at the Japanese circle and, during the 1930s, at the Salon des Tuileries and the Salon d’Automne as a member of the École de Paris. In 1940, he returned to Japan, leaving the following year for Rio de Janeiro to escape the conflagration. While in Brazil, he continued his work as a framer and painter in the Santa Teresa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro and also became an influential teacher known for his eloquent advocacy of the principles of Modernism in art. Among the notable Brazilian and Japanese-Brazilian painters who became his students were Inimá de Paula, Flavio-Shiró and Tikashi Fukushima among others. Kaminagai continued to exhibit with success in Brazil, including at the Salão Nacional de Belas Artes (silver medal, 1942) and the São Paulo Biennale (1951, 1953).

 

In 1955, Kamenagi returned to Japan before settling in Paris again in 1957, in the Cité Falguière, with his wife Mineko. With a group of Japanese artists, he exhibited in 1958 at the Cercle Volney. In 1958 and 1959, he participated with other South American artists in the Latin American Salon held in Paris and, in 1958, bought a pavilion in La Frette-sur-Seine in which he set up a workshop. Tadashi Kaminagai continued to divide his time between Japan, France and Brazil until his death, in Paris, in 1982 but it is in Brazil that he found the greatest acceptance and success. Kaminagai is listed as a Brazilian painter in the Itaú Cultural encyclopedia of Brazilian Arts and Cultures but as a Japanese painter in the Benezit Dictionary of Asian Artists.

 

Several major posthumous exhibitions have been devoted to Kaminagai and his work, including at the São Paulo Art Museum (1986), in Japan (1987) and at the "Círculo de Ligações: Foujita no Brasil, Kaminagai eo Jovem Mori" at the Centro Cultural Banco Do Brasil in São Paulo (2008). Over the course of long career, Kaminagai exhibited widely and with success and his work is held in private and public collections including in the permanent collections of the Arte Brasileira Museum, the São Paulo State Pinacoteca and in La Frette-sur-Seine, among others.

 

Brazilian critics pay homage to his sense of color, to the light and to the love of life that emanates from his paintings. They describe him as one of the last representatives of the School of Paris and insist on his influence on Japanese-Brazilian artists. His work as a framer is also recognized since his style has given rise in Brazil to a name "Moldura Kaminagai".

 

Reference:

E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 7, p. 677; et al.

 

Individual Exhibitions:

1945 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Hotel Serrador

1946 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Palace Hotel

1951 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

1955 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Dezon Gallery

1970 - Tokyo (Japan) - Takashimaya Art Gallery

1973 - Paris (France) - Chevreuse Gallery

1973 - São Paulo SP - Portal Art Gallery

1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Art Scholarship from Rio de Janeiro

1975 - São Paulo SP - Portal Art Gallery

1975 - Tokyo (Japan) - Takashimaya Art Gallery

1977 - Paris (France) - Chevreuse Gallery

1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Rio de Janeiro Art Exchange

1977 - São Paulo SP - Portal Art Gallery

1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Realidade Art Gallery

1979 - Tokyo (Japan) - Takashimaya Art Gallery

1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Realidade Art Gallery

1981 - Paris (France) - Galerie Katia Granoff

1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Realidade Art Gallery

Among others.

 

Collective Exhibitions:

1930 - Paris (France) - Autumn Salon, at the Grand Palais

1930 - Paris (France) - Salon de Tuileries

1930 - Paris (France) - Salon National de Beaux-Arts

1944 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 50th National Salon of Fine Arts , at the MNBA -

1950 silver medal - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Grande Salão - high merit diploma

1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo International Biennial, at the

1952 Trianon Pavilion - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st National Art Salon Modern, at MAM/RJ

1952 - São Paulo SP - 17th São Paulo Salon of Fine Arts, at the Trianon Salons

1953 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo International Biennial, at the Pavilion of the States

1958 - Paris (France) - Latin Salon- American

1959 - Paris (France) - Latin American Salon

1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Mar, at Galeria Ibeu Copacabana

1981 - Paris (France) - Autumn Salon, at Grand Palais

1981 - Paris (France) - Latin American Salon

 

Posthumous exhibitions:

1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Self-Portraits, at Banerj Art Gallery

1984 - Paris (France) - Individual, at Galerie Katia Granoff

1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Retrospective, at MNBA

1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Six Decades of Modern Art: Roberto Marinho Collection, at Paço Imperial

1985 - São Paulo SP - 100 Itaú Works, at Masp

1985 - São Paulo SP - Japanese Artists at the MAC Collection, at MAC/USP

1985 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Masp

1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Kaminagai: anemones, in Reality Art Gallery

1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Times of War: Hotel Internacional, at Banerj Art Gallery

1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Times of War: Pensão Mauá, in Banerj Art Gallery

1987 - São Paulo SP - Mario Agostinelli and Tadashi Kaminagai, at Espaço Cultural Crefissul

1987 - São Paulo SP - Primavera, at Liberdade Garô Art Gallery

1987 - Tokyo (Japan) - Tadashi Kaminagai: retrospective, at Asahi Newspaper

1988 - Belém PA - Heritage of Japan: aspects of Japanese-Brazilian visual arts, at the Romulo Maiorana Foundation

1988 - Brasília DF - Heritage of Japan: aspects of Japanese-Brazilian visual arts, at the Cultural Foundation of the Federal District

1988 - Curitiba PR - Heritage of Japan: aspects of Japanese-Brazilian visual arts, at MAC/PR

1988 - Manaus AM - Heritage of Japan: aspects of Japanese-Brazilian visual arts, at Pinacoteca do Estado

1988 - Porto Alegre RS - Heritage of Japan: aspects of Japanese-Brazilian visual arts, at Margs

1988 - Recife PE - Heritage of Japan: aspects of Japanese-Brazilian visual arts, at the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation. Instituto de Cultura

1988 - São Paulo SP - Heritage of Japan: aspects of Japanese-Brazilian visual arts, at MAB/Faap

1988 - São Paulo SP - Life and Art of the Japanese in Brazil, at Masp

1989 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Six Decades of Brazilian Modern Art: Roberto Marinho Collection, at the José de Azeredo Perdigão Modern Art Center

1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Heritage of Japan: aspects of Japanese-Brazilian visual arts, at MNBA

1989 - São Paulo SP - Painting Brazil XIX Century and XX: works from the Banco Itaú collection, at Itaugaleria

1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Nature: four centuries of art in Brazil, at CCBB

1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazil: 100 Years of Modern Art, at MNBA

1994 - Poços de Caldas MG - Unibanco Collection: commemorative exhibition of 70 years de Unibanco, Casa da Cultura

1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Unibanco Collection: commemorative exhibition of Unibanco's 70th anniversary, at MAM/RJ

1996 - Osasco SP - 3rd Art Exhibition, at Centro Universitário Fieo

1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Marinhas in Grandes Paulista Collections, at the Naval and Oceanographic Museum. Navy Documentation Service

1998 - São Paulo SP - Seibi Group, at Jo Slaviero Art Gallery

1998 - São Paulo SP - São Paulo: Japanese-Brazilian vision, at Lasar Segall Museum

1999 - São Paulo SP - The Female Figure at the MAB Collection, at the MAB/Faap

2000 - Osasco SP - 12th Art Exhibition, at the Fieo

2000 Exhibition Hall - São Paulo SP - The Female Figure at the MAB Collection, at the MAB /Faap

2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazil + 500 Mostra do Rediscovery. The Distant Look, at the

2001 Bienal Foundation - São Paulo SP - Nipo-Brazilian Art: moments, at the Euroart Castelli Gallery

2003 - Belém PA - 22nd Pará Art Salon, at the Pará State Museum

 

With thanks to Guia das Artes, São Lourenço, Brazil.