Kenji Yoshioka1906~1990 吉岡堅二

Yoshioka Kenji (October 27, 1906 - July 15, 1990) was a Japanese-style painter (nihonga) born in Hongo, Tokyo, the second son of the nihonga painter Yoshioka Kado. He entered the studio of Noda Kyuho in 1921, learning traditional nihonga techniques, and made his debut at the 7th Teiten exhibition in 1926, winning a Special Selection prize at the 11th Teiten in 1930 with "Deer of Nara." After the war, he co-founded the Sozo Bijutsu (Creative Art) group with Yamamoto Kyujin, Uemura Shoko, Fukuda Toyoshiro and Takahashi Shuso, pursuing a new style of nihonga that fused Western and Eastern aesthetics. He participated in the reproduction copying of the Horyu-ji Kondo murals in 1940 and 1967, and served as a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. He received the Japan Art Academy Prize in 1971.