During the 1920s and 1930s, when experimentation with figuration was a hallmark of early American modernism and regionalism movements, a number of other artists of Asian ancestry developed innovative approaches to painting with ink. The most renowned of these was Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1893–1953), who was among the best-known American artists during the period between the First and Second World Wars, although his fame has faded considerably since his death. Although Kuniyoshi was primarily an oil painter, he also created many images using ink on paper that are too richly modeled to be described simply as “drawings.” Kuniyoshi said he was interested in creating an “East-West” stylistic fusion, balancing working with ink and copious white space in compositions that also reflected his quirky rendering style inspired by American folk art. His sensuous 1924 drawing Leaves in a Vase (Fig. 4), in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, is an example of his sophisticated synthesis. Noboru Foujioka was an artist closely associated with Kuniyoshi’s circle who lived in both New York and California during this period and was also primarily an oil painter. He created ink sketches that give his 1920s subjects, like the woman in one untitled work (Fig. 5), the immediacy of Zen painting’s fresh and uninhibited brushwork.