Murdoch Collections presents:
Red and Yellow Roses 17" X 25" (MORE >>)
Nobuyuki Nakamura (known as “Nobu” in America) brought a powerful new and original vision to painting when he manifested in his work a complete and harmonious synthesis of two distinct traditions of great painting. His work is a dramatic synthesis of the painting traditions of Japan and those of the West; a process first begun by the French Impressionists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These great artists were inspired by Japanese painting and wood block prints as they made their way to Europe.
They integrated ancient Japanese aesthetic principles of subject, dimension and perspective into their own paintings when they created some of the greatest masterpieces of Western art.
From the age of five, Nobu trained in Nihonga (Japanese Water Color Painting), the best and oldest tradition of Japanese painting. As a young man and later throughout his life, he traveled the world to see how Westerners had re-interpreted Japanese art, and then returned to his own artistic and national legacy having internalized what he loved and appreciated most among the great masters of Impressionist Western art, (Monet, Matisse, Bonnard, Van Gogh, et al).
Leaving the world of high fashion where he was renowned as a textile designer, he turned to painting with his own interpretations in oil of both the very old of his own country and the very beloved of Europe to create his own re-invention of both. His work is neither classically Japanese nor classically “Impressionist,” but rather a new iteration that combines the best of both. It is rich in color, texture, and depth and timeless; as timeless as the centuries and the artists who inspired it.
Nobu’s paintings appeared in many one-man shows including those at Pioneer Place, Butters Gallery, Hatfield Gallery, Santos Gallery, as well as at Maryhill Museum of Art. His painting of the Steel Bridge hangs in Portland’s City Hall, and many of his paintings are part of the collections of prominent collectors in the Northwest and Japan.
Murdoch Collections is located in Slabtown, an area north of the famed Pearl District of Portland Oregon. We serve a national art collecting audience by offering Blue Chip Art from premier private collections and rare original art choices from artists' estates; additionally and on occasion we mount exhibits chosen by guest curators. Presentations use exquisite framing with museum quality materials, a standard by virtue of our close association with Katayama Framing.