Bumpei Usui was an exceptional painter living in NYC. He quit painting after a new Japanese painter, Kuniyoshi, arrived in NYC and began to get critical aclaim that Usui felt should have been his. Despite that he and Kuniyoshi were freinds as well as expats from Japan. He has an amazing collecton of both Kuniyoshi's work as well as his own. They both painted in oils. He headed and taught sword appreciaton at his framing shop on the lower West side. The NYC Japanese Sword Society. He had a fine collection of Katana much of which was sold at auction after a break in and attempted theft at his apartment. Apparantly, a number of swords, but not the finest, were stolen. I recall he was a consultant to the Met Asian division. I was one of his students.
