Akana Keiko

1924｜Tokyo – 1998｜Tokyo
Born in Hongō Ward, Tokyo City (now Bunkyō Ward, Tokyo). Though Akana (maiden name: Shiotani) studied fashion design during the postwar era, she decided to pursue painting after attending the Den’enchōfu Fine Art Research Institute. In 1950, she married the painter Akana Hiroshi, whom she met at the institute. She gained attention in 1953 when she won awards at both the Women Artists Association Independent Exhibition and the Shinseisaku Art Exhibition. In the late 1950s, she began producing abstract paintings that evoke cosmic spaces, but in 1961, she stopped exhibiting her work. Later, she studied metal engraving and returned to the art scene in 1975 with a solo exhibition focusing on copperplate prints.

Akana Keiko 《Objects in the Space》1958 Private collection