Peace

Hisako Hibi, Peace, 1948, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, 2023.6.2, © 2024, Ibuki Hibi Lee
Copied Hisako Hibi, Peace, 1948, oil on canvas, 26 1⁄2 × 22 5⁄8 × 1 1⁄8 in. (67.3 × 57.5 × 2.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, 2023.6.2, © 2024, Ibuki Hibi Lee

Artwork Details

Title
Peace
Artist
Date
1948
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
26 1⁄2 × 22 5⁄8 × 1 1⁄8 in. (67.3 × 57.5 × 2.9 cm)
Copyright
© 2024, Ibuki Hibi Lee
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Allegory — civic — peace
  • Figure female — full length
Object Number
2023.6.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2023.6.2

Artwork Description

Created after World War II, Peace reflects Hisako Hibi's deeply held pacificism and her engagement with art as a means of personal and spiritual consolation.
Hibi was incarcerated at the Topaz Relocation Camp in Utah for more than three years as part of the US government's mass detainment of Japanese Americans during the war.
"Through our own bitter experience of World War II," she wrote in her memoirs, "I hope to contribute something positive towards a better future and a peaceful existence for all people on Earth. . . . I seek something beautiful with line, color, and form in such a way, wishing to convey a message of peace. Art consoles the spirit, and it continues on in timeless time."