19 Facts About Kinuko Emi

At the 31st Venice Biennale in 1962, Kinuko Emi's work was exhibited in the Japan Pavilion alongside that of four male artists, making her the first Japanese woman artist to be shown at the country's Pavilion.

Kinuko Emi had retrospective exhibitions at the Yokohama Civic Art Gallery in 1996, the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura in 2004 and Himeji City Museum of Art in 2010.

Kinuko Emi's daughter, Anna Ogino, is an Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist and emeritus professor of French literature at Keio University, Tokyo, who serves as the custodian of her mother's works and legacy.

Kinuko Emi was born on June 7,1923, in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture.

Kinuko Emi graduated from Hyogo Prefectural Kakogawa Women's Higher School in 1940.

Kinuko Emi was a member of the painting club at the school.

From 1941 to 1943, Kinuko Emi studied under Hiroshi Ikawa, a Western-style oil painter who later became a member of the Second Era Society, and from 1945 to 1949, she studied at the Kobe Municipal Western Painting Institute.

From 1948 to 1950, Kinuko Emi worked as a drawing teacher at Kobe Municipal Ota Junior High School.

At the 7th exhibition in 1952, Kinuko Emi exhibited Crowd that depicted a group of figurative nude women in dark colours, and won the highest prize, Kodo Bijutsu Prize.

In 1953, with these achievements, Kinuko Emi was made Kodo's first woman member at the 8th exhibition, where she exhibited another female nude, Three Standing Women.

Kinuko Emi later traveled to New York and then to Paris, where she stayed until August 1955.

In 1954, when Kinuko Emi traveled to Southern Europe, she was shocked to see the prehistoric cave paintings of Lascaux and Altamira, which led her to reconsider what art is.

Kinuko Emi participated in the 41st Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture in 1958 and the 3rd Guggenheim International Award in 1960.

At the 31st Venice Biennale in 1962, Kinuko Emi became the first Japanese female artist to exhibit at the Japan Pavilion.

The second woman, after Kinuko Emi, to represent Japan at the Venice Biennale was Yayoi Kusama in 1993, notably the first Japanese woman artist to hold solo show at the country's Pavilion.

Kinuko Emi developed a variety of original painting techniques over her career.

Kinuko Emi has held classes in Yokohama and organized the annual open-call exhibition for women artists, Women Artists Exhibition.

In recognition of these activities, Kinuko Emi was awarded the 40th Yokohama Culture Award in 1991 and the 46th Kanagawa Culture Award in 1997.

Kinuko Emi was honored by Kanagawa Prefecture in 1978 and the Minister of Education in 1984 for her contribution to local cultural activities.