Yoshi Mizutani was born in 1969 in Japan and introduced to art at a very young age by his grandmother who is a traditional Japanese Sumi ink painter. He began painting in watercolor seriously by the age of 10. And at the age of 16, Yoshi was trained in basic drawing techniques and was introduced to oil painting.

Driven by a strong desire for further training in western realistic tradition, Yoshi left his home country at the age of 18. He studied from the old Masters in Spain and France before he ventured to the United States to study with renowned portrait painter Robert Cormier at the RH Ives Gammell Atelier in Boston. After completing seven years of training with Mr. Cormier, Yoshi returned to Spain to work as a professional artist. While in Madrid, Yoshi copied the Spanish masters at the Prado and was sought after for many portrait commissions. He maintained a rigorous schedule for three years and returned to Boston in spring 2001.

Yoshi's teacher, Robert Cormier, represents a direct line of atelier tradition beginning with Jacques-Luis David (1748-1825), Paul Delaroche (1797-1856), Jean Leon Gerome (1824-1904) and then to William M. Paxton (1869-1941) and Cormier's teacher RH Ives Gammell (1893-1981). The training is systematic and precise. The Atelier operates with the same goals as the 19th century French academic system. A small number of students work closely with the Master in the traditional method of drawing from plaster models, followed by working from life.

Yoshi is profoundly inspired by the works of John Singer Sargent, Velasquez, Anders Zorn, J. Sorolla, Joseph DeCamp and Dennis Miller Bunker. He admires their work, which captures the look of nature and the fleeting moment of the scene.

Yoshi's body of work includes figures study, still life, landscapes and portraiture in oil, charcoal, conte and pencil. He utilizes academic drawing with an impressionistic palette. The work is a sensitive record of the look of nature, equally conscious of color, light, and drawing to produce arrangements driven by a fine sense of composition and atmosphere.

Yoshi maintains a studio in the historic Fenway Studios Building in Boston.

Awards received:
Honors Award, Portrait Society of America, Philadelphia, 2002
21st Exhibition Award, The Salmagundi Club, New York City, 1998
The Len G. Everett Memorial Award, The Salmagundi Club, NYC , 1997
The Jurors Award to Merit, Cape Cod Art Association, Massachusetts, 1997
The Best Finalist, Provincetown Museum, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1995
Honorable Mention, Copley Society of Boston, 1993
Gamblin Award, Boston, 1991