Obata's Yosemite: Art and Letters of Obata from His Trip to the High Sierra in 1927

Perfect

I liked everything. I "copied" Mr. Obata's paintings, or "played" with them, in h20colour. Great learning experience. Reading his thoughts, the brief bio, and some of his postcards, you are sorry you never met him in person, but he left us such riches that we'll never forget him!

I loved the art work and the personal information about Obata’s life. Very interesting.

This volume reproduces art by Chiura Obata, a Japanese painter (1885-1975). He was born in Japan and came to California in 1903. In 1927, he traveled extensively in Yosemite, completing about 100 sumi and watercolor paintings in a few short weeks. He briefly returned to Japan and, over a period of 18 months, supervised the block printing of 35 of these paintings. Each painting required many blocks and impressions to reproduce the colors. 32 carvers and 40 printers worked on the project. The book reproduces both original and woodblock art, both of which are wonderful, although I preferred the originals. The text includes commentary by several experts as well as writings about the trip by Obata. One commentator wrote "...there would be times when he would reach a temporary limit of producing paintings. Then he would dig from his bag a bit of red stone or a piece of white quartz found near some deserted mine, gather a bit of moss, a willow twig or a tiny fern and plant a Japanese garden the size of one's palm." (page 138) He captured nature on paper or silk and created beauty wherever he could, on small scale and large. An inspiring book.

A really beautiful story and photos of Obata's unique, amazing artwork. Highly recommend for anyone interested in Yosemite, art and history.

I received this book from the seller in a timely manner. It was well packed and in excellent shape on arrival. Beautiful illustrations and interesting information about the artist.

I love this book on another level as well; as I have an appreciation of sumi-e and watercolor and never mastered his style. I think the binding is not that great, but maybe that's my fault for holding pages open with a small weight. But if one has a big board, one can also take out a few pages and tack them onto it for a daily or permanent view. I have done that with some of the artists' and teachers demonstrations and it's a delightful way to hang a board with lots of pictures.

Love this book. Using it as a reference as I learn to work with pastels. The vibrant colors and essential shapes are perfect.

I came across the name of the Japanese-American artist, Chiura Obata (1885-1970), quite recently so this book was very interesting in providing more information about the artist and his fascinating life and artistic development in America. The artist arrived in San Francisco in 1903 and worked as a newspaper illustrator during which time he made on-site sketches of the San Francisco Earthquake. He took the opportunity to paint landscapes throughout California and, in 1921, he helped establish the East West Society in San Francisco. In 1927 he visited Yosemite and painted over 100 paintings.The following year he returned home after his father's death and he supervised the production of 35 colour woodblocks of Californian subjects, mainly from his Yosemite visit, over a period of 18 months for his `World Landscape Series' and exhibited at the 87th Annual Exhibition in Ueno Park, Tokyo, and won the First Prize with "Lake Basin in the High Sierra".This book has the subtitle, `The Art and Letters of Chiura Obata from his Trip to the High Sierra in 1927'. The essays in the book are "Obata's Yosemite; An Introduction", "Obata's Vision of Yosemite" and "From Watercolour of Yosemite", all by Janice T. Driesbach, Curator of Art at the Crocker Art Museum, and "Obata of the Thousand Bays", by Susan Landauer.A key, and particularly interesting, part of the book are Obata's "Letters from Yosemite, 1927", "Sierra Trip; Yosemite Creek Impressions" and "In Praise of Nature". The final chapter is "Obata Gets Spirit of California in his Prints" by Robert Howard. The book concludes with a Chronology and a Selected Bibliography.Obata's 35 woodblocks made in Japan included 27 scenes of Yosemite and the High Sierras, 8 of general Californian landscapes and a portrait of the opera singer, "Madame Talia Savanieva", not shown. Yosemite had been painted in the 1860s when artists such as Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill and William Keith all emphasised its awsome nature and created grandiose subjects for wealthy California entrepreneurs. Obata, however, found the scenes in this Californian landscape a source of continual lyrical reflection from 1927 and many times thereafter.In Japan, Obata was adopted by his elder brother, Rokuichi, also an artist, and was apprenticed for 7 years before taking the name, Chiura, meaning `Thousand Bays'. It is still unclear why the artist left for San Francisco in 1903 but already he had some contacts with Western influences. "Mother Earth", 1912, a watercolour on silk, is very much a Japanese-styled work. The East West Art Society was the artist's California's landscapes. Obata's conception of space in most of his 1927 Yosemite watercolours and drawings is Western, but his simplification of rocks and trees derives from the Japanese `osoragoto' style, as in "New Moon", "Eagle Park" and "Along Lake Mono", all 1927.Viewing his colour woodblocks, all of small size, ca. 15" x ca. 11", "El Capitan", "Upper Lyell Fork, near Lyell Glacier", "Death's Grave Pass and Tenaya Peak", and - especially - "Lake Basin in the High Sierra", all 1930, serve to underplay the elaborate work needed to produce them. Driesbach says 107 impressions in cherry blocks were needed for the latter woodblock alone, and many trials proofs have been identified that show the extent of his overall artistic endeavour.Other beautiful woodblock images are "Life and Death, Porcupine Flat", "Ruin of the Old Tioga Pine", "Silence, Last Twilight on an Unknown Lake, Johnson Peak", "Clouds, Upper Lyell Trail, along Lyell Fork", "Before Thunderstorm, Tuolumne Meadows", "Evening Glow at Lyell Fork, Tuolumne Meadows", "Evening Glow at Mono Lake, from Mono Mills", "Morning at Mono Lake", "Mono Crater", "Lake Mary, Inyo National Forest", "Rainbow Falls, Inyo National Forest", "Evening at Carl Inn", "Evening Glow at Yosemite Falls", "Eagle Peak Trail", "Sundown at Tioga, Tioga Peak", "Struggle, Trail to Johnson Peak" and "Merced River, Yosemite Valley", all from 1930.The sumi ink and watercolours include "The Lovely Moon is Gone", "Lodgepole Pine", "Granite Rocks", "White Wolf Meadow" and "Dana Creek", all 1927. There are a few watercolours from later in Obata's career, such as "Melody of Wave, Pyramid Lake, Nevada", 1933, "A Storm Nearing Yosemite Government Center", 1939, "Landslide", 1941, "Early Morning, Topaz, Utah", 1943, and "Rolling Hills", 1946.This is a wonderful book, the woodblocks in particular being positively transcendental.