Born 1903 in Tokyo, Osawa graduated in 1928 from Tokyo School of the Arts (currently, Tokyo University of the Arts). He joined Nika-kai the following year, actively participating in the organization until 1982. He was appointed a professor at Tama Art University in 1954, a position he held until the 1970s. He exhibited at the Japanese Modern Art Exhibition, Salon de Mai, the International Exhibition of Figurative Art, the Sao Paolo Biennial and others. Over time, Osawa who started out as a figurative painter has been able to incorporate more and more elements of abstract art into his works, adding to the uniqueness of his approach. He worked mainly in oil painting, but also as a printmaker. Osawa died in 1997.

I have been on good terms with Osawa and have visited his atelier many times since in the 1980s the Gendai Hanga Center held the “Hiroshi Osawa: Prints and Watercolors” exhibition. Osawa’s father, Sannosuke Osawa, was a professor of design at Tokyo School of the Arts, and as such has had an important role in the establishment of modern architecture as a profession in Japan during the Meiji period. Osawa, who grew up in a household close to the influential thinker Yukichi Fukuzawa, clearly exhibited the spirit of an urbanite. Sharp witted, with an understated sense of color and form, and an impeccable eye for smooth compositions, Osawa’s art particularly from the 1980s onwards exhibits a range of color that I wish to see more lastingly appreciated.