Misao Yokoyama (1920–1973) was a painter born in Niigata Prefecture who breathed a powerful new life into post-war Japanese painting. After moving to Tokyo, he studied Japanese painting and was active primarily within the Seiryūsha group. He is known for depicting urban buildings, factories, mountains and Mount Fuji on large canvases, establishing a style characterised by a weighty and rugged expressiveness that differed from the traditional, delicate style of Japanese painting. Through his bold use of ink and mineral pigments, and by capturing the forms of his subjects on a grand scale, he brought out the very pressure and energy inherent in the landscape itself.

When viewing Misao Yokoyama’s works, one senses an approach that seeks to depict the weight and heat inherent in a place head-on, rather than simply arranging the landscape beautifully. His black-dominated canvases possess a unique sense of tension, with mountains and buildings looming as if they were gigantic living beings. Yokoyama’s paintings appear to portray the power of the earth, the city and nature from a perspective distinct from the elegance typically associated with Japanese painting. I believe a major part of their appeal lies in the quiet poetic sentiment that lingers beneath their ruggedness.