Collection: Sugai Kumi

(Kōbe, 1919 – Paris, 1996)

Kumi Sugai was a Japanese artist who combined Eastern visual culture with the aesthetics of European avant-garde. Moving to Paris in 1952, he initially abandoned calligraphy to embrace an abstract painting language, influenced by Informal art and later by urban design and road signage. His poetic approach is based on essential forms, flat colors, and geometric symbols, with a balance between graphic rigor and Zen spirituality. His works evoke a world of silence and restrained energy, teetering between East and West.