Kenji Yoshida: “Peace is the ultimate beauty.”

Born into a family of farmers, as a young man Yoshida trained to be a teacher but, in parallel, he started to study art. During wartime he joined the Japanese army, and failed to perish as a kamikaze. Upon the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his final mission was cancelled, and while he had witnessed the deaths of many colleagues and civilians, he survived the mayhem of war. 

In the 1950s, Yoshida became an artist and art teacher, initially living and exhibiting in Tokyo. After moving to Paris in 1964, the artist fully devoted himself to painting and printmaking. His creations went from exuberant colours, progressively simplified to keep only black and white, while keeping an extraordinary sense of movement. Then, a new palette of colours resurfaced in his works, around teal and bright red, intense blue and deep green, with touches of silver and gold.

Marked by the horrors of war, and passing away of his dear ones, Yoshida celebrated life and peace throughout his art. Thus, many of his paintings are simply entitled La Vie (‘Life’ in French). The artist said: "I want each of my paintings to be a prayer for peace. There is much sickness, much malaise in the universe. I want the work I do to help heal the destructiveness and pain and remind people that there is also in this universe someplace where there is no separation or conflict.”

Paradoxically, despite the huge number of victims they caused, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the reasons why the artist survived. Having witnessed many calamities of war, and having survived, Yoshida determined that his duty was to spread the message that war is an atrocity and that peace and life are the supreme values to upkeep and celebrate. “Peace is supreme beauty,” he said. This message clearly appears in his works.

Works by Kenji Yoshida are on display courtesy to October Gallery, London. If you are interested in purchasing works by the artist, please speak to our gallery staff.