Diary: December 12, 1941

Roger Shimomura, Diary: December 12, 1941, 1980, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1991.171
Copied Roger Shimomura, Diary: December 12, 1941, 1980, acrylic on canvas, 50 1⁄4 x 60 in. (127.6 x 152.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1991.171

Artwork Details

Title
Diary: December 12, 1941
Artist
Date
1980
Location
Dimensions
50 1⁄4 x 60 in. (127.6 x 152.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
Highlights
Subjects
  • History — United States — World War II
  • Object — furniture — table
  • Object — written matter — book
  • Object — furniture — screen
  • Figure male — knee length
  • Figure female — bust
Object Number
1991.171
Research Notes
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1991.171

Artwork Description

Diary: December 12, 1941 is from a series of paintings by Roger Shimomura inspired by the diaries of his paternal grandmother, Toku Shimomura. The title references a date that fell between the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the US issuing of Executive Order 9066. Shimomura and his family were among the more than 120,000 innocent Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II because of that order.

Dressed in Japanese clothing and with diary, brush, and ink at hand, Toku sits contemplating her fate. On the shoji screen behind her looms the silhouette of Superman, an emblem of America. In 1941, she had lived in the United States for nearly thirty years. Yet her grandson depicts her in a scene reminiscent of eighteenth-century Japan. The choice underscores the prevalent perception that Asians in the United States are forever foreign--and the expectation that even a third-generation American like Shimomura should make art that, like him, "looks" Japanese.

Gallery label, 2024