Bumpei Akaji
Bumpei Akaji was an American sculptor. He was born in Lawai, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1921. In 1943 he joined the United States Army and was sent to Italy with the 100th Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. 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 best known for his large-scale welded copper and brass sculptures, which are both 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. He died in 2002. The The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu and the Hawaii State Art Museum are among the public collections holding work by Bumpei Akaji.
Selected works
 Gaea (Mother Earth), copper sculpture by Bumpei Akaji, 1984, Hawaii State Art Museum |
 Untitled copper sculpture by Bumpei Akaji, 1963, President William McKinley High School, Honolulu |
 Makaʻa eʻIke Aku i ke Awawa Uluwehi i na Kuahiwi o Manoa (Glowing Eyes Looking at the Lush Valley in the Mountains of Manoa), hammered copper sculpture with brass brazing by Bumpei Akaji, 1979, University of Hawaii at Manoa |
References
- Radford, Georgia and Warren Radford, "Sculpture in the Sun, Hawaii's Art for Open Spaces", University of Hawaii Press, 1978, 91.
- Yoshihara, Lisa A., Collective Visions, 1967-1997, [Hawaii] State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1997, 145.
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