Toshio Aoki

Toshio Aoki or Tershui Aoki (青木年雄 Aoki Toshio, born 1854, in Yokohama, Japan – 1912, in San Diego, California) was a Japanese American artist and painter who lived and worked in California at the turn of the 20th century.

Aoki found significant success among the American upper class and was known for hosting social events. Guests of his are alleged to have included John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan.

Aoki was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1854. He emigrated to San Francisco in 1880 at the invitation of a department store owner. Upon his arrival, he began work as a commercial artist for the Deakin Brothers of San Francisco.

Aoki painted portraits and murals in the homes of prominent people and became very successful. His works were handled by George T. Marsh & Company. He exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, and the Art Institute of Chicago gave him a showing in 1924.

After moving to Pasadena, Aoki "worked hard to shed his reputation as an amusing character and storyteller and to be taken seriously as an artist. He began to work on 'Oriental receptions,' creating an atmosphere of a Japanese masquerade ball." It is unknown on how long he worked under the Deakin Brothers, as he worked for other establishments making decorative works and commissions, then working with G.T. Marsh in 1895 during his time in Pasadena for commercial ventures. Achieving success in California through Nihonga, he created works that utilized Japanese imagery such as deities and icons from the Meiji period. Aoki created works in multiple media, some of which include oil on canvas and Japanese water-soluble media. He was also known as a performer, hosting a cherry blossom dinner at Pasadena where J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller participated, as well as a craftsman due to his works of hand painted parasols and clothing sought out by the governor of Colorado and the vice president of the United States. Not much is known about his personal life aside from his marriage and divorce from a Caucasian woman during his early years in America and his adoption of Tsuru Aoki. At 1898, Aoki met Tsuru and her guardians, raising her as they faced financial difficulty in California, using his career to provide for her boarding school at Colorado Springs.

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