Milt Kobayashi's work has been referred to as ethereal. Kobayashi is increasing his use of light, reflected in the thoughtful gleam of a woman's facial expression; exposing naked intimacy in his moody interior scenes. Kobayashi's subjects are people from another time and place and, yet, they are strangely familiar. Kobayashi's people are mysterious, lonely, romantic and yet recognizable.

As a young illustrator working in New York City, Milt Kobayashi frequented the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study the masters - Sargent, Chase, Duvanek, and Vuillard. Even today, as a successful painter, he returns to the museum often to spend time with the artists of the 18th and 19th century who have influenced...