Miné Okubo’s Portraits at SEIZAN Gallery NYC
Miné Okubo, Untitled, 1940s from SEIZAN Gallery
Miné Okubo: Portraits
Now through Saturday, March 1
SEIZAN Gallery – 525 W. 26th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues), Ground Floor
Admission: Free
SEIZAN Gallery is presenting Miné Okubo: Portraits, the gallery's first solo exhibition featuring work by one of the most influential Japanese American artists of the 20th Century. Until March 1, 2025, works by Okubo will be on public display, some for the first time, including eleven portraits completed in the late 1940s. Okubo achieved early success as an artist and continued to be extraordinarily prolific throughout her life until her death in 2001. She is most renowned for Citizen 13660, a groundbreaking memoir that combines visual art and narrative to record her experience living in Japanese American internment camps during World War II.
About Miné Okubo
Born in Riverside, California, in 1912, Miné Okubo was a nisei, or second-generation Japanese American. After earning an MFA in art and anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, she was awarded the prestigious Bertha Taussig Fellowship to study in Paris under Fernand Léger. When World War II broke out, Okubo returned to the United States in 1939 on the last ship from Europe. Back in California, she contributed to mural projects under the Federal Art Project and curated exhibitions.
From 1942 to 1944, Okubo was detained at the Tanforan Relocation Center in San Bruno, California, and at the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah. While in these camps, she created more than 2,000 drawings using charcoal, watercolor, pen, and ink. During this time she taught art to others in the incarcerated population, alongside Chiura Obata and other notable artists. Published in 1946, Citizen 13660 includes nearly 200 illustrations documenting daily life in the camps. It received the American Book Award in 1984.
Miné Okubo, Untitled, 1940s from SEIZAN Gallery
Life and Work in New York City
After her release from Topaz in 1944, Okubo relocated to New York City, where she went on to have a successful career as a commercial illustrator for prestigious publications such as The New York Times, LIFE, and Fortune while continuing her painting practice. Her debut assignment was illustrating the magazine's April 1944 "Japan" issue. Portraits—especially of women and children—remained a central focus of her work. In "Personal Statement" she wrote "From the beginning, my work has been rooted in a concern for the humanities."
The eleven portraits featured in this exhibition were created in the late 1940s, just a few years after Okubo’s release from the camps. These bold, powerful works share stylistic connections with her earlier charcoal drawings from the internment period, which are also displayed in the gallery. While her camp drawings often convey the despair and trauma of the incarcerated, the later portraits—rendered in colorful pastel—capture energy, strength, and compassion. The anonymous figures exude vitality and humanity, celebrating everyday life and signal an early transition to Okubo's iconic, color-rich style.
Recognition and Legacy
Her contributions have been recognized in numerous ways. In 1965, CBS-TV featured her in the documentary Nisei: The Pride and the Shame. In 1972, her first retrospective was held at the Oakland Museum. In 1981, Okubo testified before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC), advocating for the inclusion of internment history in educational curricula.
Okubo’s works are now archived at the Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties at Riverside Community College District and featured in prominent museum collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Oakland Museum. Her legacy endures in exhibitions like The View from Within curated by Karin Higa in 1992 at the Japanese American National Museum as well as on-going group exhibition Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo at the Smithsonian American Art Museum curated by ShiPu Wang through August 17, 2025.
SEIZAN Gallery
Located in Chelsea, SEIZAN’s hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. and Sunday and Monday by appointment. For more information, please visit SEIZAN Gallery’s website.
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JAA & JACL-NY TO SCREEN “BASEBALL BEHIND BARBED WIRE”
Baseball Behind Barbed Wire
Sunday, September 22 from 1:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.
The Japanese American Association of New York – 49 W. 45th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), 5th Floor
The Japanese American Association of New York (JAA) and the Japanese American Citizens League – New York (JACL-NY) present a screening of Baseball Behind Barbed Wire, a short film by Yuriko Gamo Romer. The documentary tells the story of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans through the uncommon lens of baseball, America’s national pastime. Following the screening, author and historian Robert K. Fitts and yours truly, Susan Miyagi McCormac of JapanCulture•NYC, will lead a discussion about the film and the importance of baseball throughout Japanese American history and within the JA community. There will also be a book signing by Fitts.
Registration is required. To RSVP, please click here and fill out this Google doc.
About Robert K. Fitts
A former archaeologist with a Ph.D. from Brown University, Robert K. Fitts left academics behind to follow his passion — Japanese baseball. An award-winning author and speaker, his articles have appeared numerous journals, magazines, and websites. He is also the author of ten books on Japanese baseball and Japanese baseball cards. Fitts is the founder of SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee and a recipient of the society’s 2013 Seymour Medal for the Best Baseball Book of 2012 (Banzai Babe Ruth); the 2019 and 2023 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Awards; the 2012 Doug Pappas Award for the best oral research presentation at the annual convention; and the 2006, 2021, 2023 and 2024 SABR Research Awards. He has twice been a finalist for the Casey Award and has received two silver medals at the Independent Publisher Book Awards. While living in Tokyo in 1993-94, Fitts began collecting Japanese baseball cards and now runs Robs Japanese Cards LLC. https://www.robfitts.com/
About Susan Miyagi McCormac
Susan Miyagi McCormac is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of JapanCulture•NYC, an English-language website that introduces Japanese culture to New Yorkers and connects members of the Japanese and Japanese American community while promoting Japanese-related events. A 1990 graduate of North Carolina with a degree in communications, she has also had a long career in sports television, which has taken her to Tokyo to work Yankees games as well as the World Baseball Classic. Her career in baseball merged with her community involvement when the Japanese Consulate tapped her to moderate a panel discussion celebrating the 150th anniversary of baseball’s introduction to Japan, which featured Yomiuri Giants and New York Yankees legend Hideki Matsui. Susan is a Vice President of The Japanese American Association of New York, serves on the Board of Directors of the JET Alumni Association of New York, and is the co-chair of the Communications Committee of the U.S.-Japan Council’s New York Region. https://www.japanculture-nyc.com/
About Yuriko Gamo Romer
Yuriko Gamo Romer is an award-winning director based in San Francisco. She holds a master’s degree in documentary filmmaking from Stanford University and is a Student Academy Award winner, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Scholar, and American Association of Japanese University Women Scholar. Her current documentary project, DIAMOND DIPLOMACY, explores the relationship between the United States and Japan through a shared love of baseball.
She directed and produced MRS JUDO: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be BeautifulI, the only biographical documentary about Keiko Fukuda (1913-2013), the first woman to attain the 10th degree black belt in judo. MRS JUDO has traveled to more than 25 film festivals internationally and was awarded the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2013 International Festival of Sport Films in Moscow and broadcast on PBS nationally as part of CAAM’s Japanese American Lives in 2014. Additionally, her film Occidental Encounters won numerous awards, among them a Student Academy Award Gold Medal, Heartland FF’s Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award, and National Media Network’s Silver Apple. Romer’s short films include Reflection; Kids will be Kids; Sunnyside of the Slope; Fusion; and Friend Ships, a short historical animation about John Manjiro, the inadvertent Japanese immigrant rescued by an American whaling captain. https://www.flyingcarp.net/
Baseball Behind Barbed Wire is available through GOOD DOCS.
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George Takei: My Lost Freedom
An Evening with George Takei
Tuesday, April 16 at 8:00 p.m.
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space – 2537 Broadway at 95th Street
Admission: $32-$48
Embark on an extraordinary evening with esteemed actor, activist, and New York Times bestselling author George Takei! In this captivating Q&A session moderated by BD Wong (Awkwafina is Nora from Queens), Takei delves into his illustrious career, spanning from Star Trek to Broadway, and culminating with the unveiling of his debut picture book, My Lost Freedom.
Purchasing a ticket will ensure admission and an exclusive, autographed copy of My Lost Freedom, which is scheduled for release on the same day as this event, April 16, 2024.
There are a limited number of companion tickets that do not include a book. To purchase a companion ticket, add both a standard ticket and a companion ticket to your cart. The companion ticket will be discounted at checkout. Companion tickets are only available to purchase with a full-price ticket and do not include a copy of the book. All other in-person tickets come with a signed copy of My Lost Freedom. To purchase tickets, please visit Symphony Space’s website.
Please note: There will not be a book signing at this event.
Support JapanCulture•NYC by becoming a member! For $5 a month, you’ll help maintain the high quality of our site while we continue to showcase and promote the activities of our vibrant community. Please click here to begin your membership today!