Taro Yamamoto participated in the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York City during the 1950s. Born in Hollywood, California in 1919, he was sent to Japan at the age of eight to receive a traditional Japanese education. His family had a lineage of Shinto priests. While pursuing his education, he discovered his passion for painting, and by the time he entered high school, he had already decided to dedicate his life to art. In 1936, he returned to the United States and began studying cubism at Los Angeles City College.
In 1941, Yamamoto joined the U.S. Army and served during World War II. After completing his service, he resumed his studies in California, this time at Santa Monica City College. In 1949, Glenn Wessel, a student of Hans Hofmann, persuaded him to move to New York City. Yamamoto then enrolled at the Art Students League in 1950. During his time there, he collaborated with notable artists like Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Vaclav Vytlacil, Byron Brown, Reginald Marsh, and Morris Kantor. He also earned a scholarship to study at the Hans Hofmann school in New York, and in 1952, he was granted a John Sloan Fellowship from the Art Students League.
The following year, Yamamoto received an Edward G. MacDowell Traveling Fellowship, which enabled him to travel to Europe and study in Stuttgard, Germany under the guidance of Willy Baumeister. He exhibited his work at Gallerie Huit in Paris during this period. In 1954, he was invited to a residency at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. There, he collaborated with esteemed artists such as Stuart Davis, Milton Avery, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko, which greatly influenced the development of his distinctive abstract expressionist style. Later in his life, he focused on the creation of hard-edge paintings.
Yamamoto's artistic journey included numerous exhibitions at prominent venues such as the Stable Gallery, Art Students League, Krasner Gallery, Westerly Gallery, and Riverside Museum in New York. He also showcased his work at institutions like the Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Guild Hall in Easthampton, Miami Museum of Modern Art, the Dayton Art Institute, the University of Minnesota, Wellfleet Art Studio, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, among many others.