Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 2

Kimura Chuta
Deux villageois by Kimura Chuta, Abstract Impressionism, New School of Paris

1977

About the Item

Chuta KIMURA (also "Tchuta" or "Tshuta") is an allusive landscape painter and pastellist. His name - composed of the words Ki (tree) and Mura (village) - literally means "village tree". The artist was born into a middle-class family with an ancestral Samurai background. From the age of 13, he took drawing lessons at the Takamatsu School of Decorative Arts. In 1936, he went on to study at Tokyo's Nika Art Academy, where the academic teaching did not suit him. In 1937, he exhibited for the 1st time at the Dokuritsu Salon, but was immediately drafted by the army to serve in China - where, despite the war, he developed a passion for ancient calligraphy. In 1940, he eventually returned to Japan due to illness. Shortly afterwards, in 1941, he discovered a painting by Pierre Bonnard at the Ohara Art Museum in Kurashiki, the light of which overwhelmed him. He was mobilized again in China in 1945, then, once the war was over, he resumed his exhibitions in Tokyo and discovered Bonnard once again. In 1947, he married Satchiko Yunoki, with whom he decided to move to Paris. Thanks to a patron, the young couple settled in Montparnasse in March 1953 (taking over the former studio of his illustrious compatriot, Foujita). In 1954, he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français and met Jacques Zeitoun, artistic director of the "Art Vivant" gallery (Paris and Lyon), who immediately signed him up. From 1955 onwards, Kimura enjoyed a steady stream of solo exhibitions - in Paris (e.g. Galerie St Placide, Kriegel, or Art Yomiuri - the latter exhibiting his work 4 times at FIAC in the 1980s); Lyon (e.g. Galerie St Georges); Antibes (e.g. Galerie St Georges); and Paris. galerie St Georges); Antibes (ex. galerie René Raporte); Brussels (ex. galerie de France et du Benelux); Geneva (ex. galerie Krugier); Tokyo (ex. galleries Nichido, or Takarashi); and New York (ex. galleries David Findlay, or Ruth Sigel). The artist also participated in fairs and group exhibitions (e.g. Biennale de Paris in 1957, Centre Pompidou in 1979, The Phillips Collection in 1985). In 1962, he moved to Châtenay-Malabry and met Jean Grenier - professor of philosophy and holder of the chair of aesthetics and art science at the Sorbonne - who became his principal biographer: "When Kimura rightly prides himself on uniting East and West, which, he writes, are as different from each other as day and night are from each other, he might add that it is by remaining himself and drawing on the dual traditions of his country that he has succeeded in creating a work that is at once so violent and so gentle. In 1963, the French State bought a painting from him - "Jardin à Châtenay". In 1965, Galerie Kriegel (recently opened by his 1st dealer, J. Zeitoun) took him on under contract until 1977. In 1987, the artist attended his last exhibition in New York. After his death, major retrospectives were organized, notably by Japanese national museums (e.g. in 1994 at MOMAT and MoA Osaka). Kimura's work is above all the result of a life devoted entirely to painting. A stranger in his own country (he returned only once during 34 years of exile), he never bothered to learn French - a reflection of his characteristic "artistic solitude". Kimura - "that Zen painter from the Île-de-France" - saw his art as an inner journey, "an impressionism of the soul". According to American art critic Arthur Danto: "He treated surfaces as if they had to be opened to let in life, light, color and pure air". Kimura's works can be found in the permanent collections of numerous institutions and corporations: MAM Paris; Fonds National d'Art Contemporain; The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.; MOMAT; National MoA, Osaka; MoA - Hiroshima, Kamiya, and Takasaki; Setayaga Art Museum; MoMA - Saitama, Ibaraki, and Gunma; Takamatsu City MoA; Toyota Motor Corporation; Abu Dhabi Oil Co. and Nippon Television Network Corporation.
  • Creator:
    Kimura Chuta (1917 - 1987, Japanese)
  • Creation Year:
    1977
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 5.52 in (14 cm)Width: 7.09 in (18 cm)
  • Medium:
    Oil
  • Movement & Style:
    Abstract
  • Period:
    1970-1979
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    PARIS, FR
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2572213006462
More From This SellerView All
You May Also Like
  • "Pool" Oil on Canvas Painting
    By Daniel Phill
    Located in Rio Vista, CA
    A rare departure from Daniel Phill's abstract expressionist botanical paintings titled "Pool". Interior scene of an indoor pool painted with his saturated ...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Expressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

    "Pool" Oil on Canvas Painting

    Daniel Phill
    "Pool" Oil on Canvas Painting, 1997

  • Solent No.25, Oil, painting, Musician, Dire straits, British, abstract, aerial
    Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
    Solent No.25 is an oil on canvas showing a section of the landscape, painted from an aerial perspective by Artist & Musician John Illsley. The artwork comes signed and framed. As th...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Geometric Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

    Solent No.25, Oil, painting, Musician, Dire straits, British, abstract, aerial

    John Illsley
    Solent No.25, Oil, painting, Musician, Dire straits, British, abstract, aerial, 2015

  • Large 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Oil circa 1975
    Located in Frome, Somerset
    A very good large 20th century Abstract Expressionist oil circa 1975. Stanley Smith (b. 1923) British. oil on board 61cmx 122cm. Gallery frame 65cmx 126c...
    Category

    1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

    Large 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Oil circa 1975

    Stanley Smith
    Large 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Oil circa 1975, 1975

    Free Shipping
  • Untitled
    Located in Berlin, MD
    Stanley Sporny (American 1946 - 2008) A view into a stream with overhanging branches reflected in the water. A beautiful oil painting that explores the stream bottom as well as the ...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

    Untitled

    Stan Sporny
    Untitled , unknown

  • Binyamin Basteker, Urban Landscape , 2022 oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm
    Located in Jerusalem, IL
    Binyamin Basteker Urban Landscape, 2022 oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm 24 x 31 in Binyamin Basteker was born in Mumbai in 1953. Growing up in a family of artists, his unique talent was ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

    Binyamin Basteker, Urban Landscape , 2022 oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

    Binyamin Basteker
    Binyamin Basteker, Urban Landscape , 2022 oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm, 2023

  • Raquel Sanchez, Freedom , 2022 oil on canvas 110 x 140 cm
    By Raquel Sanchez
    Located in Jerusalem, IL
    Raquel Sanchez Freedom , 2022 oil on canvas 110 x 140 cm 43 x 55 in Influenced by the Impressionist and Modern masters, Raquel's personal style in re...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

    Raquel Sanchez, Freedom , 2022 oil on canvas 110 x 140 cm

    Raquel Sanchez
    Raquel Sanchez, Freedom , 2022 oil on canvas 110 x 140 cm, 2022

Recently Viewed

View All

More Ways To Browse

Edward Grant
West Virginia Landscape
1929 Illinois
J M B
Horace Dawes
Howard Everett Giles
John Wesley Hardin
Turner After The Bath
Brooks Stevens Original Painting
Galerie Roussard
Thomas Hally
African American Art Oil Vintage
View From Window
Walter Meyer
Figural Landscape Painting
On The Welsh Hills
Veronese Riva
Albert Charles Lebourg
View All Popular Abstract Paintings Searches