Tomie Ohtake - Biography and Art: A Journey from Immigration to Abstraction
Discover the fascinating biography of Tomie Ohtake, from her arrival in Brazil in 1936 to the development of her distinctive abstract language in the early years of her artistic career.
(Sem Penalidade CLS)
Tomie Ohtake is a Japanese-born Brazilian artist. She is considered one of the leading representatives of abstract art in Brazil. Her work is characterized by the endless experimentation of the fundamental elements of composition - color, line, and form - which comprise abstraction.
BIOGRAPHY
Tomie Ohtake was born on November 21, 1913, in the city of Kyoto, Japan. In 1936, at the age of 23, she traveled to Brazil to visit one of her five siblings who lived in the country. When she thought it would be just a visit, she was unable to return to her country due to the outbreak of World War II at the time.
(Sem Penalidade CLS)
She decided to stay in Brazil, got married, and had two sons, Ruy and Ricardo Ohtake who became architects.
In Brazil, she had a peaceful life taking care of her children until around 1950, with the encouragement of Japanese artist Keiya Sugano, she began to paint, initially using landscapes as a theme.
Tomie Ohtake was drawn to abstractionism, a movement she followed until the end of her solid artistic career.
Her career took off in the 1960s, when she had the opportunity to participate in several individual exhibitions, receiving prizes from almost all the art salons in Brazil where she had participated.
From the 1970s, Tomie Ohtake began to work with prints, producing serigraphs and lithographs, which significantly enhanced her work positively.
In painting, the curved line emerged, which had not been explored as much by the artist until then, showing the idea of movement and dynamism.
Tomie Ohtake is best known for her painting, printmaking, and sculpture, but in the 1980s, she contributed to the country by creating over thirty public works in different Brazilian cities, a rare feat for a female artist in Brazil.
Tomie Ohtake created the scenery for the play Madame Butterfly, first at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theater and later in 2008, in São Paulo.
To understand the rest of this journey, continue to our next article: Tomie Ohtake - Biography and Art: National Recognition, the Institute, and Innovation.
(Sem Penalidade CLS)
