Between 1960 and 1981, Kawabata had 11 solo shows at the prominent Betty Parsons Gallery in New York.
16 Facts About Minoru Kawabata
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At the 31st Venice Biennale in 1962, Minoru Kawabata's work was exhibited in the Japan Pavilion alongside that of four other Japanese artists.
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Minoru Kawabata has had solo exhibitions at the Everson Museum of Art in 1974, the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura in 1975, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and Ohara Museum of Art in 1992, and Yokosuka Museum of Art in 2011.
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Minoru Kawabata was born on March 22,1911, in Kasuga-cho, Koishikawa Ward, Tokyo.
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Minoru Kawabata's father, Mosho Kawabata, was a Japanese-style painter and his grandfather, Gyokusho Kawabata, was a master painter of the Maruyama School.
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One of Minoru Kawabata's classmates was Taro Okamoto, but he left for France in the third term of his first year.
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Minoru Kawabata graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1934, his work was selected for the Bunten exhibition in 1936, and in 1939 he became a Kofukai member.
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Minoru Kawabata then moved to Italy due to the escalation of the war, but when Italy joined World War II he returned to Japan in September 1941.
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In 1953, together with Saburo Hasegawa, Jiro Yoshihara, Takeo Yamaguchi and others, Minoru Kawabata formed the Japan Abstract Art Club.
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In September 1958, Minoru Kawabata moved to the US and settled in New York, and the following month his Rhythm Brown received Honorable Mention at the 2nd Guggenheim International Award.
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In 1959, Minoru Kawabata was appointed as a professor at the New School for Social Research in New York.
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Minoru Kawabata held his first New York solo show at the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1960, forming an association which has continued ever since, with almost yearly exhibitions of his work.
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At the 31st Venice Biennale in 1962, Minoru Kawabata exhibited his works at the Japan Pavilion alongside that of four other artists.
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At the Venice Biennale, Minoru Kawabata exhibited eight works, including Vivid Red, which is characterised by calligraphic brushwork and intense colours.
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Minoru Kawabata had a large-scale touring retrospective at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and the Ohara Museum of Art in 1992, and returned to Japan in 1994, resettling in Tokyo.
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Minoru Kawabata died in a hospital in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on June 29,2001, at the age of 90.