Siberian Colors: Japanese Artist Kazuki Yasuo’s Legacy of Hope

Kazuki’s 1939 oil painting Usagi. (Courtesy of the Kazuki Yasuo Museum)

The 1943 oil painting Hamon (Ripple). (Courtesy of the Kazuki Yasuo Museum)

Kazuki painted Ame (Ushi) in 1947 shortly after being repatriated to Japan. (Courtesy of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum)

The 1948 work Maisō (Burial). (Courtesy of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum)

Bareisho (Potatoes), painted in 1953, is one of Kazuki’s numerous still-life works. (Courtesy of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum)

The artist at his studio in 1951. (Courtesy of the Kazuki Yasuo Museum)

Kazuki drew on his memories of captivity to create the 1959 Kita e nishi e (To the North, to the West). (Courtesy of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum)

Kazuki’s 1968 work Ame (Rain). (Courtesy of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum)

The 1965 work Tōdo (Frozen Earth) depicts Soviet tank tracks. (Courtesy of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum)