Aichi Triennale

Mizutani Kiyoshi was born in the Gujo district (now Gujo City) in Gifu Prefecture. He entered the Western-Style Painting Department of the Kawabata Art Research Institute (formerly the Kawabata Art School) while studying at the Waseda University School of Commerce, and later became a student of Kosugi Hoan. Mizutani actively exhibited works heavily influenced by Fauvism at the Shunyo-kai, an art society founded by Western-style painters. Inspired by his studies in India in 1936, he established a painting style that powerfully depicted the lives of resilient, ordinary citizens. After World War II, Mizutani gained international prominence, touring South America in 1957 as a Japanese representative of the International Jury of São Paulo Biennial and holding a solo exhibition at the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Palacio de Bellas Artes) in Mexico in 1958, among other international endeavors.

Time line

1926

His work accepted for the first time at the 4th Shunyo-kai Exhibition.

1929

Moves to Europe and enrolls at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

1936

Travels to India to pursue his studies.

1948

Moves to Nagoya from the Ena district in Gifu Prefecture, where he had evacuated during the war, and subsequently relocates to Tokyo to take charge of the Shunyokai office.

1956-67

Teaches at the Faculty of Education, Kanazawa University.