Sueo Serisawa

Sueo Serisawa (April 10, 1910 – September 7, 2004) was a Japanese American who became a modernist of the Los Angeles school.

Serisawa's painting genres included Impressionism, Modernism, Regionalism, Expressionism, and Abstraction. He also produced still lifes and portraits. The portrait of Judy Garland is a typical example of the approach of Serisawa's portrait style that evolved during the late 1930s/1940s. His use of colour,light and texture gave an ethereal and quiet quality to his works. Serisawa's style was influenced by European Impressionists such as Renoir, Monet and Degas whose works he admired and studied extensively. Serisawa also was influenced by earlier European masters, including EI Greco, Rembrandt and Velasquez, and these various artistic influences resulted in what became for him a blending of the California Landscape School with Impressionism and his move from almost exclusively landscapes to portraits. The portrait of Garland was one of the last he did before he was forced to leave the West Coast due to the start of WWII.

He worked in oils and watercolors, also making lithographs.

Serisawa was born in Yokohama, Japan on April 10, 1910, the son of artist Yoichi Serisawa. The family emigrated from Japan to Seattle and then to Los Angeles in 1918 where his father continued his artistic career. The young Serisawa, inspired by his father, became involved in the California Art scene perfecting his style within American Impressionism.

During his time in California he taught and painted portraits of many Hollywood personalities, including Judy Garland in 1940 as well as still lifes and landscapes. He continued to exhibit, winning many substantial awards, and his increasing international reputation led to private classes for such Hollywood notables as Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor and Frances Marion.

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