About: Chuzo Tamotzu

Chuzo Tamotzu (February 19, 1888 – May 18, 1975) was a self-taught painter who lived in New York City before settling in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1948. Tamotzu was born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, in 1888. He was educated in political science at Senshu University in Tokyo. Self-taught in sumi-e, he left Japan in 1914 to further his study of art throughout Asia and Europe. Tamotzu moved to the U.S. in 1920 where he befriended several other artists, such as Philip Evergood, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and John Sloan. Tamotzu served on the board of the Society of Independent Artists when Sloan became the society's president. During the Great Depression, Tamotzu worked for the Public Works of Art Project in New York, but was denied participation in the Works Progress Administration because he was not a