"Convergenza" Lithograph by Shu Takahashi, 1970

Shu Takahashi was born in Hiroshima in 1930. In 1950, he moved to Tokyo, and in spite of mother's opposition to his artistic aspiration, entered Musashino Academy of Fine Arts. In 1956, he held his first solo exhibition. In 1987, Takahashi received the Education Minister’s Art Encouragement Prize, and in the following year, he was awarded the Japan Arts Grand Prix, which is given by Shinchosha in recognition of the year's best works of art. 

In Japan, together with other artists, Takahashi founded the Nouveau Group, a movement that would revolutionize the visual artistic language. Takahashi received the Dokuritsu Prize and his Way to the Moon was bought by the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, which awarded him the Yasui Prize for new artists. He became well-known in Italy, and since 1969, he has formed a stable relationship with the Galleria dell’Ariete in Milan. He took part in the Venice Biennale in 1976 and in the Rome Quadriennale in 1977. In 1996, Takahashi taught at the Kurashiki University of Sciences and Arts. Takahashi’s exhibitions include his retrospective at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome (1993) and the 2003–2004 Spirit of Gold Exhibition at the Edoardo Chiossone Oriental Art Museum in Genoa. Takahashi has been living and working in Rome since 1963.