Henry Fukuhara (April 25, 1913 – January 31, 2010) was an American

watercolorist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

teacher. Fukuhara was

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

with his parents, who were Japanese immigrants, at the

Manzanar Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one ...

internment camp in California's

Owens Valley Owens Valley ( Numic: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada, west of the White Mountains and Iny ...

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 opposing ...

following the signing of Executive Order 9066. He would later reveal that he looked at spots for potential

graves A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

at Manzanar in a 1992 interview with the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', "Seemed like a joke, but that's what we did." A prolific watercolorist during his career, Fukuhara would later use the Manzanar relocation camp to teach

workshops Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the onl ...

on abstract

watercolor painting Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

to students beginning in 1998. Henry Fukuhara died of natural causes at a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

in Yorba Linda, California, on January 31, 2010, at the age of 96. He was survived by his wife, Fujiko Fukuhara; daughters, Joyce Bowersox, Grace Niwa and Helen Fukuhara; son, Rackham, two sisters, four brothers, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

References

External links

Los Angeles Times: "Henry Fukuhara dies at 96; watercolorist led annual painting workshops at Manzanar"Densho Encyclopedia article: "Henry K. Fukuhara"
* 1913 births 2010 deaths Painters from California Japanese-American internees People from Humboldt County, California Artists from Santa Monica, California American watercolorists American artists of Japanese descent {{US-painter-1910s-stub