Born in Nagano, Japan, he moved to the U.S. in 1904. In 1906, he moved to New York and entered the National Academy of Design. After graduating, he became an assistant to Frédéric MacMonnies and traveled to France with MacMonnies. After studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, he returned to New York, where he exhibited his work at the exhibition of the Gacho Kai in 1922 and at the exhibition of Japanese Art, sponsored by New York Shimpo in 1927.

Other works include “George Washington Victory Monument” at Princeton University, “Truth” and “Beauty” at the entrance to the New York Public Library, “Civic Virtue” in the plaza in front of New York City Hall (now in Green-Wood Cemetery), and “The Civic Virtue” in the Washington, DC cemetery. He also created the sculptures for the entrance to the Japanese Pavilion at the 1939-40 World’s Fair in New York City. He returned to Japan in 1940 and established a studio in Kyodo, Setagaya-ku. During World War II, he was evacuated to Nagano Prefecture, after the war, he became an interpreter for the occupation forces stationed in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture. At the invitation of Commander Decker, moved to Yokosuka as Chief Art Advisor to Yokosuka Air Base, where he died in Yokosuka in 1950.

Reference: Nagano Prefectural Shinano Museum of Art, 50 Years After His Death: Gozo Kawamura Exhibition, (exhibition catalog) ,Nagano Prefectural Shinano Museum of Art (2000); Saku City Board of Education, Saku City Gozo Kawamura Memorial Museum Catalog (2010); New York Shimpo; Nichibei Jiho.

The subject of this entry was featured in one of our digital exhibits, “Japanese Artists During the Prewar Period in New York City- Artistic Trace from the 1910s to the 1940s –”.