Kiichi Usui

American, born Japan, 1931–2001

Kiichi Usui was a Japanese-born artist, art historian and longtime curator at Oakland University's Meadow Brook Art Gallery. Usui moved to the United States after World War II to study at the Art Students League in New York. While initially working in Abstract Expressionism, he found it unsatisfying and ultimately shifted his focus to art curation and a more personal style. Known for his sincere and delicate touch, he incorporated classical Japanese influences, later blending them with Chinese landscape techniques he studied at the University of Michigan. His paintings often featured serene landscapes and portraits, particularly of women, which reflected his reverence for nature and beauty.

Usui curated exhibitions and commissioned sculptures for Oakland University's campus, significantly shaping the university's artistic landscape over his 30-year tenure. Though he stepped away from painting for a decade while developing his career as a curator, he eventually resumed in the 1990s, exhibiting his own work publicly at Meadow Brook Art Gallery for the first time in 1997. Usui’s final works, completed before his passing in 2001, reflect his vision’s evolution, melding Asian artistic principles with an American aesthetic​.