painting
date: label: date made
content: circa 1940s
notes: label: Description
content: A black and white sumi-e painting of a horizontal tree branch. The image depicts a gnarled tree branch with leaves and blossoms, likely a student practice piece. The right side of the paper is torn. This painting was likely done by Koho Yamamoto or another student at Chiura Obata’s Topaz Art School in a Japanese American prison camp during World War II.
label: Description
content: Born in California as Masako Yamamoto in 1922, Koho and her family were incarcerated at the Japanese American incarceration camp in Topaz, Utah during World War II. Koho became the star pupil of Chiura Obata (1885-1975), a master sumi-e artist and calligrapher who was also a Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of California, Berkeley. Koho received her name, meaning “Red Harbor,” from Chiura whose name translates to “Thousand Harbors,” as a symbol of spiritual succession to teach the art of Japanese brush painting. After the war, Koho moved to New York City and made a successful career exhibiting and lecturing as an artist. She founded and was the sole instructor of the Koho School of Sumi-e until it closed in 2010.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Japanese American
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: gift of Koho Yamamoto
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2016.0152.36
label: accession number
content: 2016.0152
label: catalog number
content: 2016.0152.36
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 1/2 in x 19 3/4 in; 36.83 cm x 50.165 cm