{"data":{"id":"16776","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":16776,"topgoose_id":1157,"tms_id":16776,"display_name":"Chiura Obata","sort_name":"Obata Chiura","display_date":"1885–1975","begin_date":"1885","end_date":"1975","biography":"\u003cp\u003eAs a young artist in Tokyo, Chiura Obata\nstudied Japanese sumi ink-and-brush\npainting, a technique he continued to use\nthroughout his life. After moving to\nSan Francisco in 1903, Obata founded\nthe East West Art Society and in 1932\nbecame a professor at the University of\nCalifornia, Berkeley. In the summer of\n1927 Obata had traveled from San Francisco\nto Yosemite and the High Sierra, a trip he\ndescribed as “the greatest harvest\nfor my whole life and future in painting.”\nOver the course of six weeks of hiking and\ncamping, Obata produced roughly one\nhundred landscapes in pencil, watercolor,\nand sumi ink, inspired by the striking\nnatural beauty of the wilderness.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/46361\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eEvening Glow of Yosemite Fall\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eis from\nthe World Landscape Series \u003cem\u003e“America”\u003c/em\u003e,\na portfolio of thirty-five woodblock prints,\nmost made after his watercolors from\nYosemite. Obata made the prints in Japan\nat the Takamizawa Print Works over the\ncourse of an eighteen-month period\nbeginning in 1928. He worked with thirty-\ntwo wood carvers and eighteen printers,\nand each image required between 120 and\n205 progressive proofs, resulting in\nan astonishing level of detail in which the\nhairs from individual brushstrokes are\nfaithfully captured. Each print represents\nthe deep impact the distinctly American\nlandscape had on Obata, as filtered through\nhis unique synthesis of Eastern and\nWestern traditions and techniques. Steeped\nin the Zen tradition, Obata often spoke of\nthe sublime qualities of the natural world and\nwrote of Yosemite Falls, “This waterfall\nmakes the music of heaven; it is music more\ninspiring than man-made music.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":false,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500294074","wikidata_id":"Q5102560","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:10:53.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-11T07:00:52.923-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/16776/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/16776/exhibitions"}}}}