74 Artists Magazine May 2020
O
ver the course of his 70-year career,
Chiura Obata (1885–1975) was many
things: an envoy of Japanese art and design
to American audiences; an internment
camp detainee who fought to educate and
give solace to his fellow prisoners through
the creative arts; and a pivotal 20th-century artist and
professor who revered the greatness of Nature above all.From Japan to America
In 1903, Obata arrived in Seattle, Wash., from
Japan, a 17-year-old who was intending to stayArtist, Advocate,
Instructor, Survivor
During an era marked by racial bias and war-time fears, Japanese-American
Chiura Obata created a legacy of beauty, service and understanding.
by Courtney Jordanin America only briefly. His plan was to refine his
approach to Western painting and then continue on
to Paris, the epicenter of the art world at the time.
As a painter who’d been apprenticed to master artists
in Japan since age 7, Obata was trained in all manner
of techniques during his formative years. This broad
education would translate into a career built on various
painting styles, from the Japanese sumi-e art of ink-and-
brush work, to Chinese manga (a historic painting style
used for graphic narratives), to Western brushwork. He
made his way to San Francisco, stayed for 30 years and
became one of the most influential California-based
artists of the 20th century.LEFT
Chiura Obata is
pictured at the
California Palace
of the Legion of
Honor, in San
Francisco, during
a 1931 exhibition
of paintings by him
and his brother,
Rokuichi Obata.
COURTEST OF THE OBATA
FAMILYOPPOSITE
Evening Glow at
Mono Lake, From
Mono Mills
1930; color woodcut
on paper, 15¾x10⅞
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN
ART MUSEUM, GIFT OF THE
OBATA FAMILY, 2000.76.10;
©1989, LILLIAN YURI
KODANI