Kitaoka Fumio (1918 - 2007)

Fumio Kitaoka was born in Tokyo. At the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, where he was admitted in 1937, Fumio Kitaoka studied (Western) oil painting with Takeji Fujishima and moku-hanga with Hiratsuka Un'ichi. After the war he was further influenced by Kôshirô Onchi and his Ichimokukai - First Thursday Society. In 1955-1956 he studied wood engraving in France. He is one of the more important post-war Sôsaku Hanga artists. He had many solo exhibitions and participated in international biennales. To quote Helen Merritt: "After passing through realistic and abstract stages, Kitaoka's mature style embraces both realistic representation and abstraction in carefully designed and often brightly colored landscapes".
He died of pneumonia on April 23 2007.