In 1903, after a two-week boat journey, Chiura Obata arrived in the US from Japan. He intended to stay for just a short while before heading on to Paris, where he wanted to learn more about modern Western art. He never made it to Europe, however, settling instead in the San Francisco Bay area, home to innumerable Japanese immigrants, and making a career that melded the oriental and occidental styles.
By the time he left Japan, Obata (1885-1975) was already an accomplished artist. He had started formal training in the sumi-e (ink and brush) tradition at the age of seven, and at 14 – having run away from home to avoid military school – had moved to Tokyo to continue his apprenticeship. After winning a prestigious award he told his father he was crossing the Pacific to further himself: “The greater the view, the greater the art; the wider the travel, the broader the knowledge.”
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