Keichi Kimura (1914–1988) was a painter and illustrator who was born in Waiʻanae, Hawaiʻi in 1914. He received his first art instruction from teacher Shirley Russell while attending

President William McKinley High School President William McKinley High School, more commonly referred to as McKinley High School, is a comprehensive public high school in the Honolulu District of the Hawaii State Department of Education. It serves grades nine through twelve. McKinl ...

in Honolulu. In 1936, he earned a B.A. from the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, where he studied under Henry H. Rempel and

Huc-Mazelet Luquiens Huc-Mazelet Luquiens (1881–1961) was an American printmaker, painter and art educator who was born June 30, 1881, in Massachusetts to Jules Luquiens a French-speaking Swiss and Emma Clark who was born in Ohio. Life He graduated from Yale Un ...

, and also met fellow art student and future wife, Sueko Matsueda. Keichi continued his education at

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Chouinard, Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt Disney, Walt and ...

(Los Angeles),

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

(New York City) and the

Brooklyn Museum Art School The Brooklyn Museum Art School was a non-degree-granting professional school that opened at the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York in the summer of 1941. The Brooklyn Museum Art School provided instruction for amateur artists as well until Ja ...

(New York City). He first exhibited at the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

at 19 years of age. During the Second World War, he served with the 100th Battalion of the

442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment including the 100th Infantry Battalion is best known as the most decorated unit in U.S. military history, and as a fighting unit composed almost ent ...

in Italy and France, where he produced many drawings that were also exhibited at the

. He was divorced from Sueko in 1962 and died in Honolulu in 1988. Although he painted many portraits, he is best known for his semi-abstract landscapes, like the untitled painting at right. They are usually uninhabited and have symbolic meanings.Papanikolas, Theresa and Stephen Salel, Stephen, ''Abstract Expressionism, Looking East from the Far West'', Honolulu Museum of Art, 2017, , p. 29 The

Hawaii State Art Museum The Capitol Modern Museum, formerly (until 2023) named the Hawaii State Art Museum, is a small art gallery located on the second floor of the No. 1 Capitol District Building in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Long known as HiSAM, the m ...

and the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

(Washington, D. C.) are among the public collections holding works by Keichi Kimura.

Footnotes

;Notes * Forbes, David W., "Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941", Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 214, 269. * Hartwell, Patricia L. (editor), ''Retrospective 1967-1987'',

Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Hawaii ( ; ) is an island state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, th ...

, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1987, p. 56 * Morse, Marcia, ''Legacy: Facets of Island Modernism'', Honolulu, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2001, , pp. 21, 46-51 * Morse, Marcia, "Inner World, Outer World: The Art of Keichi and Sueko Kimura", Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2001. * Yoshihara, Lisa A., ''Collective Visions, 1967-1997'',

, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1997, 51. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimura, Keichi 1914 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters American artists of Japanese descent United States Army personnel of World War II American military personnel of Japanese descent People from Oahu Painters from Hawaii 20th-century American male artists President William McKinley High School alumni