Skip to main contentProvenanceThe artist
Private collection, by descent
Terra Foundation for American Art
Exhibition HistoryPublished References
Chiura Obata
(American (born Japan), 1885 – 1975)
Devastation
1945
Watercolor on paper
Image: 13 x 18 1/2 in. (33 x 47 cm)
Mat: 20 1/8 x 25 in. (51.1 x 63.5 cm)
Mat: 20 1/8 x 25 in. (51.1 x 63.5 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Gift of The Estate of Chiura Obata
Object number2023.1
Interpretation
Two tiny figures sit slumped and isolated in the center of this powerful watercolor by Japanese American artist Chiura Obata. They appear lost and despondent, and their surroundings provide no recognizable sign of civilization. Jagged brushstrokes in orange, red, black, and gray create a chaotic wasteland that swirls around them. Chiura Obata produced this watercolor in response to the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The ravaged environment represents the complete destruction caused by the atomic detonations, and the forlorn couple point to human loss.
Obata’s life had already been disrupted during World War II: in 1942 he and his family were interned, along with more than 100,000 Japanese Americans, in the wake of an executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A resident of California since 1903 and a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1932, Obata was nonetheless uprooted from his home and forced to move with his family first to the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California, then to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. During his time in the camps, Obata continued to draw, paint, and teach.
Devastation is the first of three watercolors painted by Obata following the atomic bombings in 1945. It is smaller than the other two works in the series, Prayer (TF 2023.2) and Harmony (TF 2023.3) which are also in the Terra Foundation collection. The series demonstrates the artist’s faith in the beauty and power of what he called “Great Nature” and his belief in natural cycles encompassing destruction and rebirth. Despite the vast destruction wrought by the bombs, Obata included the two survivors in Devastation as a symbol of hope. He exhibited the series for the first time at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1946.
Obata’s life had already been disrupted during World War II: in 1942 he and his family were interned, along with more than 100,000 Japanese Americans, in the wake of an executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A resident of California since 1903 and a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1932, Obata was nonetheless uprooted from his home and forced to move with his family first to the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California, then to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. During his time in the camps, Obata continued to draw, paint, and teach.
Devastation is the first of three watercolors painted by Obata following the atomic bombings in 1945. It is smaller than the other two works in the series, Prayer (TF 2023.2) and Harmony (TF 2023.3) which are also in the Terra Foundation collection. The series demonstrates the artist’s faith in the beauty and power of what he called “Great Nature” and his belief in natural cycles encompassing destruction and rebirth. Despite the vast destruction wrought by the bombs, Obata included the two survivors in Devastation as a symbol of hope. He exhibited the series for the first time at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1946.
Private collection, by descent
Terra Foundation for American Art
Exhibition History
University of California, Berkeley, Haviland Hall, Exhibition of Chiura Obata, June 1946.
Bearing Witness: Selected Works by Chiura Obata, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, October 20, 2022–February 27, 2023.
Chiura Obata. An American Modern, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of Santa Barbara (organizer). Venues: Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of Santa Barbara, January 13–April 29, 2018; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 25–September 2, 2018; Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan, January 18–March 10, 2019; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, June 23–September 29, 2019; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., November 2019–April 2020. [exh. cat.]
Bearing Witness: Selected Works by Chiura Obata, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, October 20, 2022–February 27, 2023.
Chiura Obata. An American Modern, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of Santa Barbara (organizer). Venues: Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of Santa Barbara, January 13–April 29, 2018; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 25–September 2, 2018; Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan, January 18–March 10, 2019; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, June 23–September 29, 2019; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., November 2019–April 2020. [exh. cat.]
Ruchti, Bill. “Art Exhibit in Oriental Vein Displayed Here,” Daily Californian, June 6, 1946.
Hill, Kim Kodani. Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2000. Devastation, ill. p. 134 (color); Prayer, ill. p. 135 (color); Harmony, ill. p. 136 (color).
Wang, ShiPu. Chiura Obata: An American Modern. Oakland, CA: University of California Press in association with Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018. Devastation ill. p. 112 (color); Prayer, ill. p. 115 (color); Harmony, ill. p. 115 (color).
Hill, Kim Kodani. Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2000. Devastation, ill. p. 134 (color); Prayer, ill. p. 135 (color); Harmony, ill. p. 136 (color).
Wang, ShiPu. Chiura Obata: An American Modern. Oakland, CA: University of California Press in association with Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018. Devastation ill. p. 112 (color); Prayer, ill. p. 115 (color); Harmony, ill. p. 115 (color).
