Kumi Sugai was born in a musician family in Kobe, Japan. Sugai received formal training in Western art and Nihonga (Japanese traditional-style painting) in the 1930s and 1940s. Sugai has moved to Paris in 1952 and was considered part of the younger generation of the Ecole de Paris. Sugai took his stand as a solitary individual and progressively created a new definition of Japanese style in woodblock printing and that of the Western art, originally influenced by the Surrealist and Abstract Impressionist movements; beginning in 1962, Sugai gradually change his style, abandoning the original inherent meaning of the Chinese characters that he used in his paintings and instead giving them his own independentlyderived significance. Sugai was active in European art world since his first exhibition was shown in the 1950s in Paris. Sugai's international recognition is demonstrated by his exhibition at Documenta, Kassel, in 1959 and 1964; Sao Paulo Biennale in 1959 and 1965; and Venice Biennale in 1962.