Itsuko Doherty

Itsuko Doherty was born in Shizuoka, Japan. Although she had long loved art, she began painting seriously only after moving to Oxford thirty years ago after studying in New York and Paris. A complete novice to oil paint at the time, she started by learning the simplest things: how to hold a brush, how to mix colours, how to find balance within a composition. Through this slow and steady learning, she realised something fundamental: you cannot express what you do not have, because painting is an act of confronting oneself. It can be frustrating, she says, because every canvas reflects who you are in that moment.

In Oxford, she studied Pictorial Composition and Figure Painting at Cherwell College and continued her development under the guidance of Prue Pardue and Robin Child. Her work seeks expression through the unification of shape, tone, and colour, and many describe her paintings as honest or soothing.

Her work has been exhibited internationally. In 2002, a joint exhibition in the south of France received a warm reception and was featured in Midi Libre. In 2005, one of her works was acquired for the Pembroke College JCR Art Collection of Oxford University. In 2008, she received a Jury Award at the Modern Art Oxford Open exhibition.

Itsuko continues to paint in Oxford, searching each day for harmony between composition, tone, and colour. Painting, for her, is a lifelong practice – one that only begins when you accept who you are, and one that never ends, because there is always more to learn.

She has been a member of the C21 Art Group, a group of Oxford artists, since 1992.