Tadashi Kaminagai (Hiroshima, Japão 1899 - Paris, França 1982)
Tadashi Kaminagai was a painter, draftsman, framer and teacher. At his family's initiative, he entered a Buddhist monastery in the Japanese city of Kobe at the age of 14. Two years later, he traveled to the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, where he worked as a missionary and farmer until 1927. That year, he decided to pursue an artistic career and moved to Paris, where he met the artist Tsuguharu Foujita (1886–1968), who guided him in painting. Alongside his artistic activity, he worked as a framer.
In the early 1930s, he exhibited his paintings at the Parisian salons and, in 1938, returned to Japan. In 1939, after the outbreak of the Second World War (1939–1945), he sailed for Brazil, carrying a letter of recommendation addressed to Candido Portinari (1903–1962). He settled in Rio de Janeiro and, in 1941, set up a studio and a frame workshop in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, where he worked and taught several Brazilian and Japanese-Brazilian artists, such as Inimá de Paula (1918–1999), Flavio-Shiró (1928) and Tikashi Fukushima (1920–2001), among others.
His first solo exhibition, held around 1945, was organized by Portinari and took place at the Hotel Serrador in Rio de Janeiro. In 1947, he joined the Grupo Seibi. He returned to Japan in 1954 and, three years later, settled again in Paris. He lived between Japan, France and Brazil until his death in 1982.
Solo Exhibitions
1945 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Hotel Serrador
1946 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Palace Hotel
1951 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Solo, at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
1955 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Dezon
1970 - Tokyo (Japan) - Solo, at Takashimaya Art Gallery
1973 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galeria Chevreuse
1973 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Portal
1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Bolsa de Arte do Rio de Janeiro
1975 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Portal
1975 - Tokyo (Japan) - Solo, at Takashimaya Art Gallery
1977 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galeria Chevreuse
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Bolsa de Arte do Rio de Janeiro
1977 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Portal
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Realidade Galeria de Arte
1979 - Tokyo (Japan) - Solo, at Takashimaya Art Gallery
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Realidade Galeria de Arte
1981 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Katia Granoff
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Realidade Galeria de Arte
Group Exhibitions
1930 - Paris (France) - Salon d'Automne, at Grand Palais
1930 - Paris (France) - Salon des Tuileries
1930 - Paris (France) - Salon National des Beaux-Arts
1944 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 50th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA - silver medal
1950 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Grand Salon - diploma of high merit
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão do Trianon
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ
1952 - São Paulo SP - 17th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Salões do Trianon
1953 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão dos Estados
1958 - Paris (France) - Latin American Salon
1959 - Paris (France) - Latin American Salon
1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Sea, at Galeria Ibeu Copacabana
1981 - Paris (France) - Salon d'Automne, at Grand Palais
1981 - Paris (France) - Latin American Salon
Posthumous Exhibitions
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Self-Portraits, at Galeria de Arte Banerj
1984 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Katia Granoff
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Retrospective, at MNBA
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Six Decades of Modern Art: Roberto Marinho Collection, at Paço Imperial
1985 - São Paulo SP - 100 Itaú Works, at Masp
1985 - São Paulo SP - Japanese Artists in the MAC Collection, at MAC/USP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Masp
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Kaminagai: Anemones, at Realidade Galeria de Arte
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Wartime: Hotel Internacional, at Galeria de Arte Banerj
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Wartime: Pensão Mauá, at Galeria de Arte Banerj
1987 - São Paulo SP - Mario Agostinelli and Tadashi Kaminagai, at Espaço Cultural Crefissul
1987 - São Paulo SP - Spring, at Liberdade Garô Galeria de Arte
1987 - Tokyo (Japan) - Tadashi Kaminagai: Retrospective, at Jornal Asahi
1988 - Belém PA - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Fundação Rômulo Maiorana
1988 - Brasília DF - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Fundação Cultural do Distrito Federal
1988 - Curitiba PR - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at MAC/PR
1988 - Manaus AM - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1988 - Porto Alegre RS - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Margs
1988 - Recife PE - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at Fundação Joaquim Nabuco. Instituto de Cultura
1988 - São Paulo SP - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at MAB/Faap
1988 - São Paulo SP - Life and Art of the Japanese in Brazil, at Masp
1989 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Six Decades of Brazilian Modern Art: Roberto Marinho Collection, at Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Heritage of Japan: Aspects of Japanese-Brazilian Visual Arts, at MNBA
1989 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Painting of the 19th and 20th Centuries: Works from the Banco Itaú Collection, at Itaugaleria
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Nature: Four Centuries of Art in Brazil, at CCBB
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazil: 100 Years of Modern Art, at MNBA
1994 - Poços de Caldas MG - Unibanco Collection: Exhibition Celebrating Unibanco's 70th Anniversary, at Casa da Cultura
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Unibanco Collection: Exhibition Celebrating Unibanco's 70th Anniversary, at MAM/RJ
1996 - Osasco SP - 3rd Art Exhibition, at Centro Universitário Fieo
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Seascapes in Major São Paulo Collections, at Museu Naval e Oceanográfico. Serviço de Documentação da Marinha
1998 - São Paulo SP - Seibi Group, at Jo Slaviero Galeria de Arte
1998 - São Paulo SP - São Paulo: The View of Japanese-Brazilians, at Museu Lasar Segall
1999 - São Paulo SP - The Female Figure in the MAB Collection, at MAB/Faap
2000 - Osasco SP - 12th Art Exhibition, at Salão de Exposição da Fieo
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Female Figure in the MAB Collection, at MAB/Faap
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. The Distant Gaze, at Fundação Bienal
2001 - São Paulo SP - Japanese-Brazilian Art: Moments, at Galeria Euroart Castelli
2003 - Belém PA - 22nd Arte Pará Salon, at Museu do Estado do Pará
Source: Itaú Cultural
