Mar 04 (Kyodo) - Toko Shinoda, a Japanese avant-garde artist internationally renowned for her unique style of abstract sumi ink paintings, has died of natural causes. She was 107.
Shinoda, whose real first name was Masuko, died in the early hours of Monday at a Tokyo hospital, her family said. Born in Dalian, Manchuria, in what is now northeastern China, Shinoda began her study of traditional calligraphy at an early age, shifting to abstract sumi paintings following World War II.
In 1956, she traveled to New York, where she was exposed to abstract expressionism and drew attention for her distinctive style that blended the traditional and the modern. After holding solo exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe, she returned to Japan in 1958.
Her paintings are now predominantly found in the public collections, including The British Museum and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
