"N.Y. Manhattan 9 Avril" by Sho Fukumoto, 1994, oil on canvas

Perhaps he is a poet, this painter who can capture the promise of a Venetian morning. Or a philosopher, who can make the New York skyline a mystery in blue.

Whatever else he is, Sho Fukumoto is a fine artist, whose work is the subject of a retrospective at the Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art in Tokyo.

Fukumoto has lived in Paris since 1967, and although hegraduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, and has exhibited at the Salon in Paris, he is not yet so well known in Japan. Perhaps winning this year's Grand Prix from the Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art for his superb painting "Lumiere du Matin a Murano, Venice," will bring his work to a larger audience.