Obata, Chiura

Chiura Obata was born in 1885 in Sendai, Japan. Trained as an ink painter, he came to California in 1903 and worked as an illustrator and commercial designer. Obata returned to Japan during 1928-1932 and transformed his California paintings into woodblock prints that resembled watercolors. After his return to California he obtained a position as an art instructor at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1942 Obata was interned along with other Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals, and eventually went to the relocation camp at Topaz, Utah, where he produced hundreds of paintings and sketches and organized an art school. After the end of the war in 1945, Obata resumed his teaching at the University of California, retired in 1954, and continued to paint and sketch until his death in 1975.

From the description of Chiura Obata internment camp prints, 1941-1943. (California State Library). WorldCat record id: 244796741