Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo
Hisako Hibi, Floating Clouds, 1944, oil on canvas, 19 1⁄16 × 23 × 1 1⁄2 in. (48.4 × 58.4 × 3.8 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, 2023.6.1
Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo presents an in-depth look at the careers of three trailblazing American women of Japanese descent and asserts their rightful place in American art.
Description
Miki Hayakawa (1899-1953), Hisako Hibi (1907-1991), and Miné Okubo (1912-2001) were three of the most active and visible female American artists of Japanese descent in the years leading up to World War II. Their acclaimed careers spanned eight decades and four U.S. states, yet the full extent of their contributions remain underrecognized within twentieth-century American art history.
Pictures of Belonging is an unprecedented examination of these three trailblazing figures. By tracing their artistic development before, during, and after the mass incarceration and displacement of Japanese Americans during World War II, the exhibition offers a nuanced view of how these women continued to explore and experiment with new artistic expression throughout their lives. Created during tumultuous decades in modern U.S. history, their paintings, along with their stories of resilience, remind us of art’s power in the face of adversity and challenge.
The exhibition includes works by Hisako Hibi and Miné Okubo recently acquired for SAAM’s collection, part of a multi-year initiative to expand and enrich the representation of Asian American experiences, perspectives, and artistic accomplishment in public displays and new scholarship.
This nationally touring exhibition is organized by ShiPu Wang, Coats Family Chair in the Arts, and Professor of Art History at the University of California, Merced, and the Japanese American National Museum. The coordinating curator at SAAM is Melissa Ho with Anna Lee, curatorial assistant for Asian American art.
Visiting Information
Credit
This exhibition is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American art and is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts. At SAAM, this exhibition received federal support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum.
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