Lewis Suzuki

California Coastal Scene

circa 1970

Lewis Suzuki was born in Los Angeles, California of Japanese descent. As a boy of nine, Suzuki's father died (1929), and his mother returned to Japan with her six children. There, Suzuki excelled in the art programs in his primary school, attended Kawabata Art Academy in Tokyo, and began exploring the possibility of studying art in the U.S. In 1939, Suzuki moved back to Los Angeles, completed high school and took classes at Otis Art Institute, In 1941, Suzuki moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked at the Japanese Embassy primarily as a “tea boy” and took classes at Corcoran School of Art. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, all embassy officials were to return to Japan, but Suzuki wished to remain in the U.S. He joined the U.S. Army and taught Japanese at the Military Intelligence Service Language School in Minnesota. After the war, he moved to New York, where he studied at the Art Students League and earned a living as a cabinet-maker. Since the 1950's he resided in Berkeley, California and painted around the Bay Area. There, he specialized in city scenes, rural scenes, seascapes and floral still lifes, done with the wet-into-wet watercolor painting style. Suzuki once said, “I feel that art has a place in enriching the life of humanity … Through my art, I try to strengthen that part of culture. And I feel that the arts should project the future of human society. To me, it cannot be non-objective or abstract in that sense.” He created a graphic work, “No More Hiroshimas,” and other peace posters for the American Friends Service Committee. Suzuki was a member of the politically active Graphic Arts Workshop from 1953 to 1963. Suzuki’s bold and imaginative use of color won him numerous awards, including two at the Society of Western Artists show at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. He served on the Berkeley Art Commission and was recognized by the City of Berkeley in 2010. Until recently, he continued to work at his studio on Grant Street in Berkeley, participating in such events as East Bay Open Studios and Berkeley Artisans Holiday Open Studios. His work is well exhibited, listed, and collected.