80 Artists Magazine May 2020
to a different camp, the art schooling continued. In total,
some 1,500 students—both children and adult—received
painting and drawing classes during their detainment, due
to the efforts of Obata and his fellow detainees.
Obata’s efforts with the creation of the art school may
have fueled his own drive to continue making art. He
painted, sketched and made prints on whatever surfaces he
could get his hands on, from scrap paper to surplus lino-
leum sheets. The work runs the gamut. There are stark,
documentary-style sketches such as Departure From
Berkeley, First Congregational Church, Berkeley (left) and
Gathering in the Laundry Room, Tanforan (below), as well as
more expressive works, such as Dust Storm, Topaz (oppo-
site). The latter might offer a window into the inner
landscape of the artist, anguished and depleted by the
bleakness of his surroundings and the fact that the land-
scape wherein he’d once found such peace had turned
harsh and threatening.
Lamentably, in 1943, a fellow inmate, observing the
privileges the artist had gained in the camps, concluded
that Obata was a U.S.-government “spy” and attacked
him viciously. Obata spent weeks recovering in the hos-
pital. Eventually, he was released and relocated with his
family to Missouri.ABOVE
Departure From
Berkeley, First
Congregational
Church, Berkeley
1942; sumi on paper,
23¾x14½
PRIVATE COLLECTIONRIGHT
Gathering in the
Laundry Room,
Tanforan
5 p.m., September
22, 1942; sumi on
paper, 9x11
PRIVATE COLLECTION