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Matsumi Kanemitsu (1922-1992), also known as Mike Kanemistu, was a Japanese American painter based in both New York City, New York and Los Angeles, California. Although born in Utah, Kanemitsu lived in Japan until he was eighteen. In 1940 he returned to the United States, joining the Army in 1941. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was detained in several U.S. army camps due to his Japanese ancestry even as he actively served in the military. During this time, he began to draw with pen and ink and pastels. Eventually, he was released and volunteered for overseas duty as a hospital assistant in Europe. His Army tour ended in 1946.
After the war, he studied with Fernand Leger in Paris; with Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Harry Sternberg, and others at the Art Student's League in New York; and with sculptor Karl Metzler in Baltimore. A highly recognized second generation Abstract Expressionist in New York, Kanemitsu came to live permanently in Los Angeles after recieving a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1961 to work at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, where he created a series of prints that translated sumi painting techniques into lithography.
He exhibited widely throughout the United States, as well as Japan, and his work is owned by a number of public institutions in the United States and Japan. In addition to his practice, Kanemitsu also held professorial positions at a number of universities and art institutions including the University of California, Berkely; the Chouinard Art Institute; and the Otis Art Institute.
