James Fuentes, 5015 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles
TERUKO YOKOI
OPENING September 19, through November 7, 2026
For further information contact
TERUKO YOKOI returns to California after a 70 year absence since her first arrival in San Francisco in 1953. Having been trained in the poetry of haiku and traditional Japanese painting, her arrival precipitated a major moment of transformation into a more international awakening. During her time at the San Francisco Art Institute (one of only two Japanese candidates), she was honored with an exhibition of her work at the Palace of Legion of Honor in 1954. Upon receiving a grant for her studies in 1955, Yokoi moved to New York, enrolling in the school of the legendary German Abstract Expressionist Hans Hoffmann. It was during this time that Yokoi met Kenzo Okada, an Abstract Expressionist Japanese-born painter working in America, who moved from Tokyo to New York in 1950. Okada, among many others, became friends with Mark Rothko, whom he introduced to Yokoi. Following her marriage to Sam Francis, she would move to Paris, and subsequently move on to Switzerland where she would remain for the remainder of her life until her retrospective exhibition at the Kunstmuseum (Bern) in 2020.
The exhibition will follow her work from the fifties thru her entire career along with a selection of her highly regarded paintings in watercolor for which she has been acknowledged as a master of the medium.
We thank James Fuentes for his enthusiasm and vision in presenting this historical return of Teruko Yokoi, on behalf of The Estate of Teruko Yokoi and Kent Fine Art.
Meditation, 1976 , 18 ¼ x 24 in. / 46.3 x 62.1 cm.
Brooklyn Rail, April 2024
ArtSeen: Teruko Yokoi by Elizabeth Buhe
ARTFORUM, May 2024, Vol. 62, No. 9
Uncanny Sensation: Teruko Yokoi’s Search for Lost Time by Richard Speer
Vogue: Shows to See:
Architectural Digest/Hotel Chelsea. 02.23.2026