Toko Shinoda was born in 1913. She is one of the foremost calligraphers in Japan. Shinoda is the master of an intricate manner of writing tracing back 3000 years.

A two-year stay in New York in the 1950s introduced Shinoda to the abstract expressionists who influenced Shinoda to break free of tightly controlled calligraphy and instead use expansive, dynamic brush strokes.

Museum collections: Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, Tokyo National Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum of New York, Rockefeller Collection.