Kumi Sugai was born in 1919 in Kobe, Japan, into a family of Japanese classical musicians. He produced his first oil paintings at the age of nine and became a student at the Osaka School of Fine Arts in 1933. He was one of the first Japanese artists to join the international avant-garde scene.
During the 1940s, Sugai gradually became familiar with the work of European artists such as Max Ernst, Paul Klee and Joan Miró, who had a major influence on his work. At the end of the decade, he discovered the work of Americans Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollock through art magazines.
In 1952, Sugai moved to Paris on rue Delambre, where he discovered the European avant-garde movements. He was influenced by lyrical abstraction, tachism and informal art, while incorporating elements of Japanese calligraphy into his work. His early works in Paris, marked by expressive gestures, are reminiscent of the aesthetics of the Gutai group, although he is not officially a member. He enrolled at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and was introduced to members of the Cobra group by sculptor Shinkichi Tajiri. He became friends with Doucet and Corneille and took part in the Salon d'Automne in 1953.
Sugai was close to the Art Informel milieu and enjoyed the support of critics Jean-Clarence Lambert and Roger van Gindertael. He had his first solo show at Galerie Craven in 1953. From 1955, he worked with Jean Pons in Paris, learning engraving and, above all, lithography, which for the artist became an art form in its own right. Sugai’s paintings are symbolic, their structure sometimes reminiscent of ideograms. Combined with his rich palette and anthropomorphic themes, his canvases echo traditional Japanese elements such as the torii (Japanese gate), stone lanterns and samurai motifs. He combines sign, form and material.
Sugai moved into a house near the Parc Montsouris in the 14th arrondissement, and his studio enabled him to have his own press and print his own prints. Art critic Michel Ragon is a great support to Sugai. In particular, he invited him to the group exhibitions of the young abstract “Nouvelle Ecole de Paris” held in Paris from 1955 to 1957. In the latter year, he exhibited his paintings at Galerie Le Gendre and his gouaches at Galerie La Roue. Here, he presented a bestiary of his own, strongly influenced by Japanese tradition, in imaginary landscapes.
In the 1960s, his style evolved towards a more geometric, minimalist abstraction, influenced by the aesthetics of urban design and signage. His pure forms and bold colors recall the world of Japanese ideograms and symbols. He also made a name for himself with his prints and lithographs, which enjoyed great international success.
In 1960, he was awarded the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art prize at the International Print Biennal. Considered part of the Nouvelle Ecole de Paris and Nouveau Réalisme movements, in 1962 he began to move away from the abstraction in vogue on his arrival in Paris, shifting from calligraphic organic motifs, mainly monochrome, to harder geometric imagery, an abstract art described as “hard-edge”. His new inspiration blossomed on large formats.
He exhibited at Galerie Crouzevault in 1963 and at Galerie Esplanade de la Défense in 1974. The rest of his exhibitions were abroad, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the Saint George Gallery in London (1954), the Sao Paulo Biennial (1959), the Kootz Gallery in New York (1959 to 1964), as well as in Germany and Scandinavia. The Ohara Art Museum organized a retrospective of his work in 1984, and in 1986 he took part in the exhibition “Japon des Avants Gardes 1910-1970” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Sugai belonged to the first generation of Japanese artists to familiarize themselves with Western painting techniques. His work is now recognized as a major contribution to 20th-century abstract art, subtly blending Japanese culture with modern Western influences. He passed away in 1996 in Kobe, Japan.