Selected Works by Bumpei Akaji

Bumpei Akaji (1921-2002) was born in Lawai, Kauai. In 1943 he joined the Army and was sent to Italy with the 100^th Battalion of the 442^nd Infantry Regiment. He was inspired by the artwork in Florence and received a discharge in Italy. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and at the Academia de Belle Arti, Brera, in Milan on a Fulbright Scholarship. In 1950 he returned to Honolulu and in 1951 received a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Akaji learned welding from a local mechanic and is now widely known for his large-scale welded copper and brass sculptures which are organic and abstract in nature. The welded and/or pounded surfaces of his sculptures are often warm and sensual and over time develop a unique patina. Writer Marcia Morse has noted: “One hallmark of Akaji’s work is the paradoxical transparency of the form; that is, the clear articulation of welded seams where planes of material are joined.” This exhibition includes a selection of his small maquettes as well as his larger-scale welded forms and date from the late 1950s to the late 1990s. Also evident in this exhibition are the different visual styles Akaji worked in including his closed, welded forms as well as his light and airy, linear brass sculptures. Akaji’s work is collected extensively in Hawaii and Japan by private individuals and public institutions including The Contemporary Museum and The Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, which commissioned many of the artist’s works for its “Art in Public Places” collection.