Late 20th Century Watercolor Painting of Hong Kong by Bay Area Artist Lewis Suzuki, Framed

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This painting is a wonderful example of the work of Lewis Suzuki. Watercolor and printmaking artist, cabinet-maker, World War II … Read more This painting is a wonderful example of the work of Lewis Suzuki. Watercolor and printmaking artist, cabinet-maker, World War II veteran and peace activist. It is framed under glass.

Iwao Lewis Suzuki (1920-2016) was born in Los Angeles, California, on November 29, 1920. After his father’s death in 1929, he moved to Japan with his mother and five siblings where he began to study art. Suzuki returned to Los Angeles in 1940 where he supported himself with various jobs and continued his schooling. In 1941, he moved to Washington, D.C. where he found work at the Japanese embassy and studied at the Corcoran School of Art.

After the beginning of WWII, he moved to New York and later became a board member for the Japanese American Committee for Democracy. After joining the U.S. Army, he served as a Japanese language instructor for the Military Intelligence Service. After the war, Suzuki returned to New York, where he studied at the Art Students League and earned a living as a cabinetmaker.

In the 1950s, he married and lived in Berkeley, California with his wife and two children, Masao and Fumi. Suzuki supported the family with his cabinetry work while continuing to paint, teach and exhibit widely, throughout the 1950s. Suzuki's bold and imaginative use of color and loose brush style won him numerous awards. He worked primarily in watercolors, painting still lifes, landscapes, or city scenes.

He actively painted, exhibited, and sold his work at his Berkeley studio until his death on January 24, 2016, at the age of 95. See less