Early Life and Formation

Born in Japan in 1923, Asoma studied at Saitama Teachers College in Urawa and at Bijitsu Gakko in Tokyo. A Japanese government scholarship took him to Paris, where he studied painting at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He later continued his training at the Art Students League of New York.

Asoma was drawn to contemporary American painting and settled permanently in New York in 1961. During his early years in the city, he lived near the East Village, studying and painting by day and working in a restaurant at night to support his family. Findlay Galleries records his first U.S. exhibitions in 1961 through the Japan Society in New York and San Francisco.

New York and the Hudson River Valley

In the 1970s, Asoma moved with his family to Garrison, on the east side of the Hudson River. The surrounding woodlands and waterways became subjects he could observe throughout the year. Changes in foliage, light, and reflection gave him occasion to reconsider familiar views from season to season.

Garrison broadened the role of landscape in a practice that already included figure painting. In works such as Hisayo on Beach (1965) and Woman in repose (1969), Asoma arranged figures and their surroundings in broad planes of color. That attention to the relationship between subject and setting also informs his later views of woods and water.

Color and Composition

Asoma often used strong, closely placed colors to establish the composition. In his figure paintings, the contour of a sleeve or the shape of a seated figure gives definition to the surrounding space. In his landscapes, foliage and reflected light form larger patterns that guide the eye across the canvas.

Findlay’s exhibition materials connect Asoma’s vivid palette with his understanding of Fauvism and his use of pattern and geometric forms with the School of Paris. His asymmetrical compositions and cropped views also reflect his Japanese heritage. These qualities are especially apparent when a branch enters from the edge of a painting or a reflection occupies much of the foreground.

Nature and the Changing Seasons

Willows, bamboo, and ponds recur throughout Asoma’s work. In Willow and Lily Pond (1979), the subject brings together the hanging foliage of the willow and the horizontal expanse of the pond. Later works such as Autumn of Lake Tiorati (1993) return to the relationship between seasonal foliage and water.

Asoma’s brushwork ranges from broad passages of saturated color to lightly feathered touches. These shifts are particularly suited to the landscape, where a soft edge can suggest foliage dissolving into light and a concentrated stroke can bring a branch or a cluster of leaves into focus.

Exhibitions and Recognition

Asoma exhibited in the United States, Japan, and Europe. The gallery’s biography records exhibitions at David Findlay Galleries in New York and Galerie Paul Vallotton in Lausanne. A surviving exhibition catalogue documents his 1990 solo presentation at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi in Tokyo.

Findlay Galleries presented a retrospective of Asoma’s paintings and works on paper in Palm Beach in 2020. The catalogue brought together landscapes, figure paintings, floral subjects, and works on paper from across his career.

In 2023, Findlay Galleries presented Tadashi Asoma: Japanese American Master of Color in Palm Beach. The exhibition included early figure paintings such as Woman Seated (1965) and Women and the Moon (1970), alongside works such as Purple Reflections (lunette) (1971).

Legacy and Archives

Asoma died in 2017, leaving a body of work that spans figure painting, landscape, floral subjects, and works on paper. The Smithsonian Libraries maintain an artist reference file on Asoma at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery Library.

Findlay Galleries represented Asoma during his lifetime and continues to present his work. Its exhibition catalogues make it possible to follow the development of his painting from the broad planes of his early New York figures to the varied brushwork of his Hudson River Valley landscapes.

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