Painter who blends Japanese, European aesthetics to discuss her work

Takako Yamaguchi, a painter influenced by Western romanticism and a Japanese design aesthetic, speaks about her career in the visual arts at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Olin Arts Center’s Room 104, 75 Russell St.

The event, which is open to the public at no cost, is sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art. For more information, call 207-786-6158.

A member of the Bates class of 1975, Yamaguchi lives in Santa Monica, Calif. Her landscapes have been described by Art in America as a synthesis of American Modernist painting with the stylized graphics of “ukiyo-e,” a popular style of Japanese woodblock printing.

The Los Angeles Times extended that comparison to include the influence of the abstract patterns of Japanese textiles and screen paintings. Her paintings “celebrate … the ecstatic beauty of the natural world,” a Times reviewer wrote.

Yamaguchi has exhibited extensively around the world. Her paintings are housed in several collections, including those of the Nevada Museum of Art and the Long Beach Museum of Art.

Born in Okayama, Japan, in 1952, Yamaguchi studied at the Rhode Island School of Design after graduating from Bates. She earned her master’s in fine arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara.