Born in Takamatsu City, Japan in 1930, painter, sculptor and printmaker Takeshi Kawashima studied at Musashino Art School in Tokyo where he graduated in 1955. Kawashima received a teaching position at Yoyogi Art School, Tokyo, where he remained until 1958. He mounted his first solo show at Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo where he subsequently held a solo-exhibitions annually from 1958 to 1961.
Kawashima exhibited with the Yomiuri Independents in Tokyo through 1963, the same year he received a commission to execute a mural for Agricultural Hall which was his first large-scale work in a public space. Building on his success in New York in the 1960s, Kawashima mounted a number of solo exhibitions including at the well know Waddell Gallery, where he exhibited in 1967 and 1969. Kawashima’s significance was solidified by his inclusion in the landmark 1965-66 "New Japanese Painting and Sculpture" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, from which the museum purchased one of his paintings for its permanent collection. Untitled 1964 was again exhibited at MoMA in their "1960s Selection from Museum Collection" exhibition in 1967.
In the 1980s, Kawashima turned to sculpture as a medium mounting several exhibitions in New York and Japan. Returning to Japan in 2016, Kawashima created the Takeshi Kawashima Art Factory in his hometown, where he still produces and houses his artworks.