Chiura Obata (1885 - 1975), born in Okayama-ken, Japan, was one of the earliest Japanese artists to live and work in the United States. He moved to San Francisco in 1903, supporting himself as an illustrator for Japanese language newspapers and magazines, while painting in the moro-tai style of contemporary Japanese art. In 1927, he visited Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada, where he made approximately 100 drawings in pencil, watercolor and sumi ink. He recalled his visit to Yosemite as the greatest harvest for my whole life and future in painting. The following year, he returned to Japan for a visit and brought 35 of the drawings to be translated into color woodcuts. Between 1928 and 1930, while Obata was in Tokyo, he transformed these California landscape watercolors and sketches into a limited-edition portfolio titledWorld Landscape Series. The final intricate woodblock prints - some required more than 150 separate working proofs - resemble Obata's watercolors, with lines like brush strokes and areas of delicately layered color. They are characterized by a distinctive merging of Japanese and Western printmaking styles and techniques.
In 2000, the Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired 26 of the full set of 35 prints from the artist's family. "Obata's Yosemite" features 27 prints and watercolors and a series of 20 progressive proofs. This exhibition is the first time the artist's prints have been publicly exhibited on the East Coast, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and in Texas, at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art. In addition, the display of "Obata's Yosemite" at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art will be the only opportunity to view this exhibition outside Washington, DC.
"Obata's Yosemite" is organized by Joann Moser, senior curator for graphic arts at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibition's tour is supported in part by the C.F. Foundation, Atlanta and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund.
