Kenzo Okada

Born in Yokohama, Japan, Okada studied in the department of Western painting at Tokyo School of Fine Arts. In 1924 he traveled to France where he studied with Japanese expatriate Tsugouharu Foujita. He found success quickly and returned to Japan where he taught at the School of Fine Arts, Nippon University. In 1950, Okada moved to New York City where he produced abstract paintings and eventually befriended Mark Rothko and other abstract expressionist and color field painters. His elegant, restrained abstractions were exhibited at Betty Parsons Gallery.