Benji Okubo (October 27, 1904April 15, 1975) was an American-Japanese

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, and

landscape designer Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

. He and his family were held in

internment camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was the eldest of the seven children of Tometsugu "Frank" Okubo and Miejoko Kato. Artist

Miné Okubo Miné Okubo (; June 27, 1912 – February 10, 2001) was an American artist and writer. She is best known for her book ''Citizen 13660'', a collection of 198 drawings and accompanying text chronicling her experiences in Japanese American internmen ...

was his sister. He studied at the

Otis Art Institute Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

in Los Angeles, 1927-1929, where he was awarded prizes. He studied under

Stanton Macdonald-Wright Stanton Macdonald-Wright (July 8, 1890 – August 22, 1973), was a modern American artist. He was a co-founder of Synchromism, an early abstract, color-based mode of painting, which was the first American avant-garde art movement to receive int ...

at the

Art Students League of Los Angeles Art Students League of Los Angeles was a modernist painting school that operated in Los Angeles, California from 1906 to 1953. Among its students were painters Mabel Alvarez, Herman Cherry, Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Rex Slinkard; illustrators C ...

, and later collaborated with him. Okubo's work was part of group exhibitions at the San Francisco Art Museum and the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

. Okubo served as director of the Art Students League from 1940 to mid-1942,Will South, "The Art Student League of Los Angeles: A Brief History," in Julia Armstrong-Totten, et al., ''A Seed of Modernism: The Art Students League of Los Angeles, 1906–1953'', Pasadena Museum of California Art. 2008, pp. 1-12. when he was interned at the Pomona Assembly Center outside Los Angeles.Okubo, Benji
at Japanese American National Museum. Later in the year, he was transferred to the

Heart Mountain Relocation Center The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain and located midway between the northwest Wyoming towns of Cody and Powell, was one of ten concentration camps used for the internment of Japanese Americans evicted d ...

in Wyoming.Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick, "The Art Student League of Los Angeles: A Japanese American Connection," in Julia Armstrong-Totten, et al., ''A Seed of Modernism: The Art Students League of Los Angeles, 1906–1953'', Pasadena Museum of California Art. 2008, pp. 14-31. He and fellow artist

Hideo Date Hideo Date (January 5, 1907 – January 6, 2005) was a Japanese-born American painter active from the 1930s to the 1980s, known for combining elements of Japanese ''nihonga'' with American Synchromism. A prominent figure in the Los Angeles art ...

initiated evening and Saturday art classes at the internment camp. Date soon withdrew from teaching, but Okubo taught until his release in September 1945.

Estelle Peck Ishigo Estelle Ishigo (July 15, 1899 – February 25, 1990), née Peck, was an American artist known for her watercolors, pencil and charcoal drawings, and sketches. During World War II she and her husband were incarcerated at the Heart Mountain Relocat ...

was one of his students. Chisato Takashima was another student, and they married in

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...

on June 12, 1945. Okubo returned to his landscape design business after his internment. He and his wife had a daughter, Mi-Ya Okubo. Following his death, widow Chisato Takashima Okubo donated his paintings to the

Japanese American National Museum The is located in Los Angeles, California, and dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. Founded in 1992, it is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown. The museum is an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affil ...

in Los Angeles.Phil Kovinick, "The Art Student League of Los Angeles: Selected Artist Biographies," in Julia Armstrong-Totten, et al., ''A Seed of Modernism: The Art Students League of Los Angeles, 1906–1953'', Pasadena Museum of California Art. 2008, p. 117.

Selected works

* ''Vision of the Blue Lily (Self-Portrait)'' (1930s), private collection * ''Untitled (Green-Faced Woman'' (1930s), Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles * ''Woman with Cat'' (1942-1945), Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles * ''Untitled (Dungeon: Well of Sorrow)'' (1942-1945), Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles * ''Untitled (Impaled Soldier)'' (1942-1945), Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles * ''Untitled (Hand of God)'' (1942-1945), Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles * ''Atom Bomb'' (1945), Japanese American National Museum, Los AngelesAtom Bomb
from Japanese American National Museum.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okubo, Benji 1904 births 1975 deaths Japanese-American internees American landscape architects American artists of Japanese descent Artists from Riverside, California Artists from Los Angeles