Chiura Obata

Sumi painting of rabbits by Chiura Obata

c1950s

Chiura Obata ranks among the most significant California-based artists and Japanese American cultural leaders of the last century. Born in Okayama, Japan, Obata immigrated to San Francisco in 1903. By then, he was integrating Western practices into his art-making, and continued experimenting with new styles and methods throughout his seven-decade career. Today Obata is best known for majestic views of the American West, sketches based on hiking trips to capture what he called “Great Nature.” In 1903, Obata moved to San Francisco and began working as an illustrator for The New World and The Japanese American, two of the city's Japanese newspapers. He also did work as a commercial designer. Obata helped establish the East West Art Society in San Francisco in 1921, which sought to promote cross-cultural understanding through art. This goal was reflected in his embrace of the Nihonga style, which fused traditional Japanese sumi-e ink painting with the conventions of western naturalism. He spent much of the 1920s painting landscapes throughout California, and among his favorite subjects were mountain landscapes. In 1927, he visited Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, creating over a hundred paintings and sketches of the high country. Obata stayed in the USA until the death of his father in 1928. In 1932 Obata Chiura returned to the U.S., and began work as an art instructor at the University of California, Berkeley. In April, 1942, Obata Chiura and his wife Haruko were among the more than 100,000 Japanese Americans who were moved from their homes along the West coast into ten relocation camps. He was first sent to Tanforan. In September, 1942, he was moved to the Topaz, Utah, internment camp. During his internment in different camps, the artist made about hundred sketches and paintings until his release in 1945. While confined at Topaz, he organized and acted as Director for the Topaz Art School for the 8,000 Japanese Americans in the camp. Obata's artwork from this time serves as a visual diary of the internees' daily life, and also as a powerful and lasting testament to the perseverance of the human spirit when confronted by prejudice. In 1943, he was released from Topaz, and moved with his family to St. Louis, where he found work with a commercial art company. When the military exclusion ban was lifted in 1945, he was reinstated to his position at the University of California, where he stayed until his retirement in 1954. Obata was a popular professor, and played a pivotal role in introducing Japanese art techniques and aesthetics that became one of the distinctive characteristics of the California Watercolor School. After his retirement he continued to paint, sketch and travel through the American countryside. In 1965 he received an order from the Japanese Emperor for promoting cultural exchange between the United States and Japan. A retrospective of his work was organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2019-2020.