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Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

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Yasuo Kuniyoshi

Tomorrow Will Come

1945

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Yasuo Kuniyoshi moved from Japan to the United States as a teenager in the first decade of the twentieth century and trained as a painter in New York City. His playful and mysterious still lifes, nudes, and landscapes represented an original style informed by Japanese, European, and American artistic concerns. Here Kuniyoshi used ink painting—a historically Japanese medium—to depict a pensive woman resting her head in her hands. Made in 1945, this painting reflects Kuniyoshi’s shift to more somber imagery during the years of World War II. Despite being considered an “alien enemy” and refused citizenship, he fully embraced his new country and considered himself American. He worked making propaganda art for the US Office of War Information and publicly condemned Japanese war atrocities. Although the woman in this painting wears a mourning veil, likely symbolic of grief over the losses of war, her expression is ambivalent, even expectant. Paired with the title, Tomorrow Will Come, the image suggests a cautiously hopeful attitude toward the future. [Permanent Collection Label, 2022]

  • Artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi (American, b. Japan, 1889–1953)
  • Title Tomorrow Will Come
  • Date 1945
  • Medium Brush and ink
  • Dimensions unframed | 28 9/16 x 22 1/2 in.
  • Credit line University purchase, Kende Sale Fund, 1946
  • Object number WU 3781

Picasso to Pollock: H.W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum (San Antonio, Texas), 08/17/2004 - 10/24/2004

Caught By Politics: Art of the 1930s and 1940s
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/19/2001 - 03/18/2001

Modern Drawings and Watercolors
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 03/26/1983 - 05/29/1983

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Old and Modern Master Drawings
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/22/1980 - 09/21/1980

Opening Exhibition of Mark C. Steinberg Memorial Hall
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 04/29/1960

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art 2002

1946
Downtown Gallery

Inscription [UR:] Kuniyoshi

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.

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