Printmaker and painter Shigeru Izumi was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1922. While still in high school at the Osaka City School of Applied Arts, Izumi enrolled in the Nakanoshima School of Western Art remained for two years. Through the Second World War he found work at the Daimaru Department Store's advertising firm where he worked until 1947.

In 1948, Izumi participated in his first major group exhibition at the 1st Annual Han Art Association Exhibition, and in 1957 he participated in his first Print Biennale in Tokyo where he won the Newcomer's Award. He established the Osaka demokurato bijitsu kyokai (Democratic Artists Association) in 1951 with fellow Modern artists Ei-Q and Yosho Hayakawa, and in 1959 he moved to the United States after an offer to guest teach at the Pratt Graphic Art Center in New York. Here, he was exposed to the transition in the art world from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art, a genre that would continue to influence him throughout his career. From 1963 to 1968 he lived in Paris before returning permanently to Japan. From 1970 to the early 1990s he taught at Osaka University of Arts and was named an honorary professor there. Shigeru Izumi died in 1995.

Izumi's work is held in collections throughout the world, including in USA: Harvard Art museum; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Carnegie Museum of Art; Japan: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art; Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts; the Moyazaki Prefectural Art Museum; National Museums of Art (Osaka, Tokyo, and Kyoto); Tokushima Modern Art Museum; Britain: the British Museum of Art; France: Musee d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris; among others.