This lot features an original oil and collage on canvas abstract painting by Kenzo Okada (Kenzo Akada) (Japanese-American 1902 - 1982). Kenzo was the first Japanese-American artist to work in the abstract expressionist style and receive international acclaim. A realist painter in Japan, in 1950 he moved to New York City, where he produced abstract paintings. Undoubtedly stimulated by abstract expressionism, these paintings nevertheless display a strong Japanese sensibility and feeling for form. In 1953, he began to exhibit his abstract expressionist paintings with the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City, and through Parsons, gained access to the inner circle of Abstract Expressionism. His paintings from the 1950s and 1960s reveal subtle changes in the natural world through the use of imagery constructed with delicate, sensitive color tonalities, floating within the compositional space. Okada evokes the aura of landscape by using earth colors, abstract patterns hinting at rocks and flowers, and an overall haziness that makes his scenes look submerged in water. Bringing an Asian sensitivity to the New York School of abstraction, Okada distills the essence of nature into his painting, making it seem elemental and thus sublime. Okada became friends with Mark Rothko and many other abstract expressionists, especially the early color field painters. His sensitive and personal style of abstract expressionism, with his Asian roots, relates directly to both color field painting and lyrical abstraction. Signed "Kenzo Akada" lower right register. Measures 26" x 26". This piece comes from the Dickenson Estate of Knoxville, Tennessee. See Photos for Details. Shipping Available.