Date of Award
12-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Art
First Advisor
Jonathan Frederick Walz
Second Advisor
Maxwell Dunbar
Third Advisor
Stefanie Snider
Abstract
Depictions of the environment are an integral part of American art history because they convey cultural relationships of all who inhabited the land. The environment is often a stagnant force that harbors lifetimes of human history. One of these histories is the incarceration of about 120,000 Japanese immigrants and American citizens in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They were forced to evacuate their homes, lives, and families to live in detention centers and prison camps where living conditions were subpar. Many turned to art making to cope, and some artists used their work to silently protest and visually document camp experiences. Environmental depictions became a leading subject in imprisoned artists’ lives. Gardening, ikebana, and landscape painting were beneficial for artists to meditate in the present moment and not dwell on their situation or uncertain future. Chiura Obata was one of these artists, and he taught these lessons in his art classes in the camps. Obata, like other prisoners, faced many obstacles in the camps. He used his art to elevate camp morale—as well as his own—while also navigating around the WCCA’s and WRA’s apparent censorship practices.
Recommended Citation
Carlson, Bri, "Beauty Beyond Barbed Wire: Chiura Obata’s Perspective of the Horizon" (2024). Theses. 1239.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/theses/1239
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
