Abandoned Treasures
Yasuo Kuniyoshi
American, born Japan, 1893–1953

Details
Title
Abandoned Treasures
Artist/Maker
Yasuo Kuniyoshi (American, born Japan, 1893–1953)
Date
1945–1946
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
36 x 57 inches
Credit
Purchase with Henry B. Scott Fund
Accession #
57.60
A guitar, magnifying glass, torn sack, watch, piece of paper, and moth in a jar are the abandoned treasures the artist brings together to create a melancholy sense of loss. Yasuo Kuniyoshi’s artworks trigger memory and imagination through unusual and ambiguous juxtapositions of ordinary objects. Some scholars have suggested that Kuniyoshi’s surrealist still lifes represent his personal reactions to the U.S. internment of Japanese residents during World War II. Such a policy would have resonated intensely with Kuniyoshi, who had emigrated from Japan several years prior in 1906.
Image Copyright
© Estate of Yasuo Kuniyoshi/VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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