Ansei Uchima was born on May 1, 1921, in Stockton, California, to immigrant parents. In 1940, he traveled to Japan to study architecture at Wasada University but was detained there due to the outbreak of the Pacific War following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Post-war, Uchima immersed himself in traditional Japanese painting and printmaking and served as a translator for Oliver Statler, who was documenting modern Japanese sosaku hanga woodblock prints. Uchima embarked on his artistic journey in Japan during the early 1950s, before returning to the United States in 1959. There, he pursued a career as a professor of fine arts, painter, and printmaker, applying the principles of sosaku hanga in his woodblock prints. His style bore the hallmarks of Abstract Expressionism, a movement influenced by European immigrant artists fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, which flourished in New York during the 1940s.
From 1962 to 1982, Uchima taught at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, leaving behind a legacy of artistic innovation and mentorship. He passed away in 2000.