| Explore the creativity and resiliency of three critically acclaimed Japanese American women artists. Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo is now open at SAAM. |
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Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo
Now on View Smithsonian American Art Museum
8th and G Streets, NW Returning three American women of Japanese descent to their rightful place in the story of modernism.
Now open at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo presents an unprecedented examination of three trailblazing women artists.
Miki Hayakawa (1899-1953), Hisako Hibi (1907-1991), and Miné Okubo (1912-2001) were three of the most active and critically acclaimed American artists of Japanese descent in the years leading up to World War II. Their careers spanned eight decades and four US states, yet the full extent of their contributions remain underrecognized within twentieth-century American art history.
By tracing their artistic development before, during, and after the mass incarceration and displacement of Japanese Americans during World War II, Pictures of Belonging 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 US history, their paintings, along with their stories of resilience, remind us of art’s power in the face of adversity and challenge. |
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| | The Smithsonian American Art Museum is able to create and share experiences like these thanks to funding from generous supporters like you.
Thank you for ensuring that American art is available to all. |
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Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo is organized by the Japanese American National Museum. This exhibition is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Generous support for the presentation at the Smithsonian American Art Museum has been provided by Debra Wong Yang and John Spiegel, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation.
Richard Sakai and the Japan-United States Friendship Commission provided additional funding. This exhibition received federal support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum |
| | | | | Image credits: Miki Hayakawa, One Afternoon, ca. 1935, oil on canvas, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, Gift of Preston McCrossen in memory of his wife, the artist, 1954, 520.23P
Hisako Hibi, Floating Clouds, 1944, 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, 2023.6.1, © 2024, Ibuki Hibi Lee
Miné Okubo, Portrait Study, ca. 1937, tempera on hardboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2023.46.1, © 2023, The Miné Okubo Charitable Corporation |
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