This catalogue is the first book surveying Chiura Obata’s rich and varied body of work that includes over 100 beautiful images, many of which have never been published. It also showcases a selection of Obata’s writings and a rare 1965 interview with the artist. The scholarly essays by ShiPu Wang and the other contributors illuminate the intense and productive cross-cultural negotiations that Obata’s life and work exemplify, in the context of both American modernism and the early twentieth-century U.S. racio-ethnic relations.

Chiura Obata (1885–1975) was a noteworthy Japanese American artist who made a significant impact on the West Coast for over 70 years. Despite facing hardships such as anti-immigration laws and internment during World War II, Obata became a leading figure in the Northern California art community and served as a professor at UC Berkeley for 20 years. His diverse and expansive body of work defies traditional categorizations and his personal story as an immigrant and artist remains relevant today.

Hardcover, 192 pages, 2018.
135 color illustrations.

10.8 x 9.3 x 1 in.