Ansel Adams, Pool in pleasure park, Manzanar Relocation Center, California, 1943, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
S. Kawamoto, Interned at the Santa Fe Detention Center, New Mexico, Painting of the Center, Natural wood slab, wedge of old fence post, paint, Collection of Mary Tsuyuke Nakagawa, From Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, © 2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo.
Mother of George Matsushita, Interned at Amache, Colorado, Senninbari vest, Silk cloth, thread, ink, buttons, paint, Japanese American Archival, Collection Library, California State University, Sacramento, From Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, © 2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo.
Homei Iseyama, Interned at Topaz, Utah, Teapot, Slate, Collections of Carolyn Holden, Aiko Iseyama and Family, Homei Iseyama and Family, From Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, ©2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo.
Frank Kosugi, Interned at Rohwer, Arkansas, Japanese-style display cabinet, Scrap wood, shellac, Kosugi Family Collection, ©Photo by Terry Heffernan.
Kichitaro Kawase, Interned at Amache, Colorado, Butsudan, Scrap wood, paint, metal, Collection of Haruo Kawase and Family, © Photo by Terry Heffernan.
Akira Oye, Interned at Rohwer, Arkansas, Cow, Pine, shellac, Collection of Ron and Michiko Oye and Family, From The Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, ©2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo.
Kichitaro Kawase, Interned at Amache, Colorado, Butsudan, Scrap wood, paint, metal, Collection of Haruo Kawase and Family, © Photo by Terry Heffernan.
Ansel Adams, Loading bus, leaving Manzanar for relocation, Manzanar Relocation Center, California, 1943, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Dorothea Lange, Photograph of Dust Storm at Manzanar War Relocation Authority Center, 1942, National Archives.
George Tamura, Interned at Tule Lake, California, Paintings of camp, Paper, watercolor, Collection of the National Japanese American Historical Society, From Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, ©2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo. |
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
Renwick Gallery
1661 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. at 17th Street
202-633-7970
Washington
Special exhibition galleries, 1st floor
The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts
from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946
March 5, 2010-January 30, 2011
Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, 120,000 ethnic Japanese on the West Coast — more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens by birth—were ordered to leave their homes and move to 10 inland internment camps for the duration of World War II. While in these bleak camps, the internees used scraps and found materials to make furniture and other objects to beautify their surroundings. Arts and crafts became essential for simple creature comforts and emotional survival. These objects — tools, teapots, furniture, toys and games, musical instruments, and pins, purses and ornamental displays — are manifestations of the art of “gaman,” a Japanese word that means to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.
The Art of Gaman showcases arts and crafts made by Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps during World War II. Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, almost all ethnic Japanese — more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens by birth—were ordered to leave their homes and move to ten inland internment camps for the duration of the war. While in these bleak camps, the internees used scraps and found materials to make furniture and other objects to beautify their surroundings. Arts and crafts became essential for simple creature comforts and emotional survival. These objects — tools, teapots, furniture, toys and games, musical instruments, pendants and pins, purses and ornamental displays — are physical manifestations of the art of gaman, a Japanese word that means to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.
The Art of Gaman is organized by San Francisco-based author and guest curator Delphine Hirasuna with the cooperation of the San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. It features more than 120 art objects, most of which are on loan from former internees or their families. This exhibition also presents historical context through archival photographs, artifacts and documentary films related to the internment experience.
The exhibition is presented under the honorary patronage of Norman Y. Mineta. Mineta, a former congressman, secretary of transportation and Regent of the Smithsonian, was interned as a child at Heart Mountain in Wyoming.
“The Art of Gaman is a beautiful and powerful exhibition that opens a window into a poignant aspect of the American experience,” said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “I am grateful to Delphine Hirasuna; Franklin Odo, former director of the Smithsonian’s Asian Pacific American Program; and Ken Hakuta, an emeritus commissioner at the museum, for encouraging the showing of this important exhibition.”
“This exhibition provides an amazing opportunity to put a human face on the internees who were literally reduced to a serial number while held behind barbed wire fences during World War II,” said Hirasuna. “The objects they made in camp represent a triumph of the human spirit over adversity. We can’t help looking at these beautiful things and thinking of the individuals who made them.”
At first, internees made objects as a way to furnish their living quarters. More creative pursuits soon followed as a way to fill the long days and to foster a spirit of cooperation. Each camp became known for decorative arts that were made from local materials found around the camp. Objects included in the exhibition represent stories of perseverance, from the small bird pin that belonged to Hirasuna’s mother that was the starting point for the exhibition, to a portrait of a mother whose son was serving in the U.S. Army’s 442nd Combat Team, to toys created for children.
“During a time of struggle under difficult circumstances, the impulse to create art emerged as a strong force in developing a sense of community,” said Robyn Kennedy, chief of the Renwick Gallery.
At every camp, arts and crafts were taught formally in classroom settings by internees who were professional artists, as well as informally by those who discovered they had a particular skill. The exhibition includes work by internees who did not pursue an art career after being released from the camps, as well as works by well-known artists such as Chiura Obata, Hisako Hibi and Suiko “Charles” Mikami. The presentation at the Renwick includes several additions that have not been seen publicly, including works by Ruth Asawa, Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Isamu Noguchi, Henry Sugimoto and master woodworkers Gentaro and Shinzaburo Nishiura.
For decades, these objects remained largely forgotten. Hirasuna contacted dozens of individuals in the Japanese American community on the West Coast to gather items one by one while developing the book The Art of Gaman, which eventually became a traveling exhibition.
In 2006, the exhibition was shown at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, the Oregon Historical Society in Portland and The William Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn.
Two 20-minute documentaries, Voices Long Silent (2010, Bob Matsumoto Productions) and Art of Gaman: The Story Behind the Objects (2010, Rick Quan Productions), will be shown in sequence in a continuous loop in the exhibition galleries.
The exhibition features more than 120 objects, the majority of which are on loan from former internees or their families. The display at the Renwick Gallery includes several objects that have not been seen publically, including works by Ruth Asawa, Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Isamu Noguchi, Henry Sugimoto, and master woodworkers Gentaro and Shinzaburo Nishiura. It presents an opportunity to educate a new generation of Americans about the internment experience and will provide a historical context through archival photographs and artifacts. The exhibition is organized by San Francisco-based author and guest curator Delphine Hirasuna, and is based on her 2005 book The Art of Gaman, published by Ten Speed Press.
Isamu Noguchi, Interned at Poston, Arizona, Bust of Ginger Rogers, Pink Georgia marble, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, © Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc., New York.
Umakichi Asawa, Interned at Santa Fe Detention Camp, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Carved Box, 1943, Scrap wood, paint, Collection of Asawa/Lanier Family, From Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, ©2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo.
Chiura Obata, Interned at Tanforan Assembly Center, Topaz, Utah, Finding New Dwellings, Tanforan, April 30, 1942, Paper, ink, Private Collection, Photo by Karin Nelson.
Ruth Asawa, Interned at Rohwer, Arkansas,The Bayou, 1942, Paper, watercolor, Collection of Asawa/Lanier Family, From Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, © 2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo.
Jack Yoshizuka, Interned at Topaz, Utah, Chair, Scrap wood, Collection of the JapanesAmerican Museum of San José, From Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, © 2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo.
Mr. Toshima, Interned at Rohwer, Arkansas, Barrack model, Scrap wood, toothpicks, paint, thread, nail, Collection of Irene Furuoka and Family, From Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna, © 2005, Ten Speed. Terry Heffernan photo. |
