Chiura Obata
Chiura Obata was a prominent Japanese American artist and educator known for his mastery of sumi-e ink and brush painting. Born in Sendai, Japan, he began his artistic journey at the age of seven and later changed his name from Zoroku to Chiura. Obata immigrated to the United States in 1903 and settled in San Francisco, where he balanced his career as an independent artist with teaching roles at the University of California, Berkeley, beginning in 1932. His contributions to art education included publishing books and offering demonstrations to share Japanese artistic techniques with American audiences.
During World War II, Obata and his wife were interned in detention centers, where he created a significant body of work that documented the Japanese American experience and established art education programs for fellow detainees. After the war, he returned to Berkeley, continuing to teach until 1954 and dedicating his later years to fostering cultural understanding between the U.S. and Japan. Obata's legacy includes his renowned paintings from his 1927 Yosemite trip and his powerful internment works, which reflect both the beauty of nature and the complexities of identity amidst challenging historical contexts. He passed away in October 1975, leaving behind a rich artistic legacy.
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Subject Terms
Chiura Obata
Artist, educator
- Pronunciation: chee-OO-rah oh-BAH-tah
- Born: November 18, 1885
- Birthplace: Sendai, Japan
- Died: October 6, 1975
- Place of death: Berkeley, California
Chiura Obata was an artist and professor best known for his Californian landscape paintings, as well as his artistic documentation of his detention in Japanese internment camps during World War II.
Birth name: Zoroku Obata
Areas of achievement: Art, education
Early Life
Chiura Obata began studying Japanese sumi-e ink and brush painting at age seven in Sendai, Japan, and he later continued his studies in Tokyo. It was during this time that he selected the artist’s name “Chiura” to replace his birth name, “Zoroku.” He immigrated to the United States in 1903. In 1912, Obata married Haruko Kohashi, a teacher of the Japanese art of flower arranging. One of their children, Gyo, would eventually become a famous architect based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Life’s Work
Obata worked as an independent artist in San Francisco for several decades before beginning to teach art at the University of California at Berkeley in 1932. At the university, Obata instructed many students in sumi-e brush painting and other Japanese artistic techniques. He also published books to introduce US audiences to the techniques and traditions of Japanese art. Obata also began offering demonstrations in sumi-e brush painting. Throughout his career he continued to produce and exhibit art extensively.
Between April 1942 and April 1943, Obata and his wife were detained with thousands of other Japanese Americans first in the Tanforan Detention Center in San Bruno, California, and later at the Topaz Detention Center in Utah. In both centers, Obata developed robust programs for art education among the detainees, while also producing a significant body of work documenting his experiences in the camps. Between 1943 and 1945, the Obatas relocated to Missouri.
In the fall of 1946, Obata returned to his position at the University of California, Berkeley, having received an indefinite leave of absence during the intervening years. He taught at the university until 1954. After his retirement, Obata worked to improve cultural understanding between the United States and Japan, even receiving an award from the Emperor of Japan for his work.
Beginning in 1971, Obata suffered from several strokes, pneumonia, and cancer. He died in October 1975.
Significance
Obata’s most significant works are the paintings and prints he completed during his 1927 trip to Yosemite National Park and his internment works from 1942 and 1943. Obata is remembered for his use of Japanese painting techniques to capture nature and society in the United States, as well as his rendering of the Japanese American experience in the years surrounding World War II.
Bibliography
Gesensway, Deborah, and Mindy Roseman. Beyond Words: Images from America’s Concentration Camps. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1987. Places images and quotations from Obata’s internment period alongside other internment camp art.
National Parks: America’s Best Idea. Dir. Ken Burns. Perf. Peter Coyote, Philip Bosco, Tom Hanks, and Adam Arkin. PBS, 2009. DVD. Chronicles the development of US national parks and includes a segment on Chiura Obata and his artistic accomplishments in Yosemite National Park.
Obata, Chiura. Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment. Ed. Kimi Kodani. Berkeley, CA: Heyday, 2000. Provides a study of Obata’s art and writings from 1942 and 1943 during his internment.
Obata, Chiura, Janice Driesbach, and Susan Landauer. Obata’s Yosemite: The Art and Letters of Chiura Obata from His Trip to the High Sierra in 1927. Yosemite National Park, CA: Yosemite, 1993. Reproduces the images and letters of Obata during a 1927 trip to Yosemite. Interpretive essays are also provided.