Usui Bunpei

Place: Nagano

Born: 1898

Death: 1994

Biography:

Bumpei Usui (碓氷文平 Usui Bunpei, 1898—1994) was a Japanese-born American painter known for his social realist cityscapes and scenes of urban life as well as his interiors, flower studies, and still lifes. A critic described his style as 'cultivated realism' in 1935. Other critics praised his handling of color, feeling for textures, and instinct for space values. Some saw Precisionism in his cityscapes. His paintings of people interacting with each other showed both the humorous and harsher sides of city life. Following his death his work received little attention until, in 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art bought one of his paintings and subsequently gave it a prominent place in a major exhibition. Along with his career as painter, Usui was a custom frame maker, furniture designer, and lacquering craftsman. He was also a collector of antique Japanese swords and breeder of Siamese cats.