Conscripted as a kamikaze pilot in 1943, Kenji Yoshida escaped certain death following Japan’s sudden surrender in the aftermath of the atomic bombings of August, 1945. Turning to painting to recover from his experiences of the war Yoshida, then aged forty, moved to Paris to concentrate on his art, in 1964. There, he joined Stanley Hayter’s legendary Atelier 17, where he refined his considerable skills as a print-maker. Subsequently, he developed his signature style: canvases covered by exquisitely balanced forms in oils overlain with gold, silver, copper and other metallic appliqué shapes all deployed in an abstract, Modernist aesthetic. Intensely conscious of the miracle of his own survival and of the fragility of life, he repeatedly used the single title of Life for the majority of his later canvases.

To the Japanese word Inochi (Life) Yoshida here added the additional title of Heiwa (Peace) in order to convey his deeply held conviction that “Life flourishes best when Peace prevails on Earth.” This sublime work uses counterpoised forms in gold and silver spread across two large panels. The panels recall the 'byobu' (paper covered screens) that would separate rooms in a traditional Japanese house or temple, but that could also act as sliding doors allowing the separated rooms to be connected together into a larger space. The suggestion that each half of the composition (the one being Life – the other Peace) loosely reflects its complementary partner to create a higher order of symmetry lies at the heart of Yoshida’s conception in this inspirational work.