Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi papers
name: label: Creator
content: Hibi, Hisako, 1907-1991
label: Creator
content: Hibi, Matsusaburo George, 1886-1947
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- California -- San Francisco
label: Occupation
content: Printmakers -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Asian American artists
label: Topic
content: Japanese American artists
label: Topic
content: Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment -- 1942-1945
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2022 by Ibuki Hibi Lee, Hisako and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's daughter. Additional material donated in 2023 by Amy Lee-Tai, Ibuki Lee's daughter.
creator: label: Creator
content: Hibi, Hisako, 1907-1991
label: Creator
content: Hibi, Matsusaburo George, 1886-1947
setName: label: See more items in
content: Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of Japanese American artists Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi measure 5.4 linear feet and date from circa 1906-2022, bulk 1940-1990. These papers are mainly focused on Hisako Hibi's life and career, with some content related to her husband Matsusaburo "George" Hibi. Included are biographical material consisting of immigration documents and interview transcripts; scrapbooks; printed material including catalogs and newspaper clippings; personal and professional correspondence; scattered records of works sold, loaned and donated; and numerous sketchbooks and notebooks. Also found is Matsusaburo's handwritten account of founding the art school at Topaz incarceration camp along with other material related to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Hisako Hibi née Shimizu (1907-1991) was a Japanese American artist in Hayward and San Francisco, California. She was married to­ artist Matsusaburo "George" Hibi (1886-1947), who was one of the founders of the East West Art Society. Both artists were active members of the San Francisco Bay Area arts community. The two met at the California School of Fine Arts (renamed the San Francisco Art Institute, which closed in 2022) and married in 1930. They had two children, Satoshi and Ibuki. Both Hisako and Matsusaburo George exhibited their paintings widely. Matsusaburo George taught and worked at the California School of Fine Arts until 1933 and then he and Hisako moved to Hayward, California where he established a Japanese-language and art school. Hisako also painted and participated in group shows at state fairs, galleries, and also the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island.

In 1942, the entire Hibi family was forcibly removed and incarcerated at the Tanforan Assembly Center in California and subsequently the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah where they remained until the end of World War II. At Tanforan, Matsusaburo Hibi co-founded an art school with fellow artist Chiura Obata for the other incarcerees in the camp and this school was re-established at Topaz. Hisako also taught at the Topaz Art School.

After the war, the family moved to New York City, where Matsusaburo George passed away in 1947. Hisako worked as a seamstress at a garment factory in order to support herself and her two children. During this time, she studied painting at the Museum of Modern Art once a week. In 1954, Hisako and her daughter Ibuki returned to San Francisco where she continued to work as a seamstress for a time. She later became a live-in housekeeper to the artist and poet Helen Salz. Hisako continued to exhibit frequently in group and solo shows. She was a member of the Asian American Women Artists Association and San Francisco Women Artists. She passed away in 1991.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5.4 Linear feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1906-2022
label: Date
content: bulk 1940-1990
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.hibihisa
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 6 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1906-circa 2020 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-2022 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)

Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1936-2005 (0.5 linear feet; Box 2)

Series 4: Scrapbooks, circa 1934-1985 (0.5 linear feet; Box 3)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1918-2019 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 3-4, OVs 7-8)

Series 6: Sketchbooks and Notebooks, circa 1930-circa 1980 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 5-6)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection arrived at the archives in multiple installments, most of which received a preliminary level of arrangement and were described in a finding aid in 2023. More additions to the collection arrived later and all the accessions were merged and the collection was fully processed, prepared for digitization, and described in an updated finding aid by Rihoko Ueno in 2024 with funding provided by the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2024 and is available on the Archives of American Art website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of Japanese American artists Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi measure 5.4 linear feet and date from circa 1906-2022, bulk 1940-1990. These papers are mainly focused on Hisako Hibi's life and career, with some content related to her husband Matsusaburo "George" Hibi. Included are biographical material consisting of immigration documents and interview transcripts; scrapbooks; printed material including catalogs and newspaper clippings; personal and professional correspondence; scattered records of works sold, loaned and donated; and numerous sketchbooks and notebooks. Also found is Matsusaburo's handwritten account of founding the art school at Topaz incarceration camp along with other material related to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Biographical material consists of a material on both Hisako and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi.  Materials in this series include their marriage license, biographical profiles, transcripts of interviews with Hisako Hibi, membership cards, and condition reports on a few of Hisako Hibi's paintings. Also noteworthy are a few subject files compiled by Hisako Hibi related to the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Personal and professional correspondence is between the Hibis and their friends, colleagues, museums, galleries, and other institutions. Some of the later correspondence is addressed to their daughter Ibuki Lee. Notable correspondents include Michael Chepourkoff, Alan Lau, Mine Okubo, and Helen Salz.

The bulk of the exhibition files consist of materials related to Hisako Hibi's group and solo exhibitions, along with a few files on Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's exhibitions. The exhibition files contain a range of materials such as correspondence, printed material, price lists, catalogs, and guest books or pages from guest books.

Scrapbooks were mostly compiled by Hisako Hibi regarding her artwork and exhibitions. The scrapbooks contain correspondence, award ribbons, exhibitions announcements, catalogs, clippings, and photographs. There is also one scrapbook on Hisako's trip abroad in 1963 and one scrapbook about Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's artwork and exhibitions.

Printed material includes a wide range of printed materials such as exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazines, periodicals, clippings, newsletters, program guides, and calendars. Most of the material is related to Hisako and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's artwork and exhibitions. 

Hisako Hibi's sketchbooks and notebooks nearly all contain a mixture of sketches and writings in English and Japanese. The writings range in subject from journal entries to notes on art, some of the sketches depict scenes from her travels across the U.S. as well as her trips to Japan. There are also two folders with a few drawings, sketches and prints by Matsusaburo "George" Hibi and their daughter Ibuki.