The George Tsutakawa in Japan video project measures 4 linear feet and contains unedited video recordings of Tsutakawa's return trip to his childhood home in central Japan. The recordings, made by the West Coast Regional Center of the Archives of American Art in 1988, were subsequently edited into the 23-minute documentary George Tsutakawa: An Artist's Pilgrimage, also included in this collection.
Scope and Contents:
The George Tsutakawa in Japan video project measures 4 linear feet and contains unedited video recordings of Tsutakawa's return trip to his childhood home in central Japan. The recordings, made by the West Coast Regional Center of the Archives of American Art in 1988, were subsequently edited into the 23-minute documentary George Tsutakawa: An Artist's Pilgrimage, also included in this collection.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 2 series.
Series 1: Unedited Video for Documentary, 1988 (3.6 linear feet; Boxes 1-4)
Series 2: George Tsutakawa: An Artist's Pilgrimage, 1990 (3 folders; Box 4)
Biographical / Historical:
George Tsutakawa (1910-1997) was a Japanese American painter and sculptor based in Seattle, Washington. Born in Seattle in 1910, he moved with his mother to Fukuyama, Japan, at the age of seven. While there, he took an interest in art, and was influenced by traditional Japanese practices. Returning to Seattle at age 16, he continued his education in art at the University of Washington. His interest in sculpture led to numerous commissions for fountians worldwide, a form that combined his experiences in both the Pacific Northwest and Japan. During his career, Tsutakawa designed, built, and installed over 70 fountains.
Following a 1987 interview with Tsutakawa conducted by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, the Archives' West Coast Regional Center took the opportunity to further document Tsutakawa's experience as a Japanese-American artist. Fourteen hours of video were recorded over a three-week period in the fall of 1988, centered around the Fountain of Lotus, a sculpture Tsutakawa was commissioned to design for a new art museum in his childhood home of Fukuyama, Japan. Tsutakawa is accompanied by members of his family, including his wife Ayame, his daughter Mayumi, and his son Gerard.
The video crew for this project included Paul Karlstrom (Archives of American Art West Coast regional director), Ken Levine (director and videographer), and Dan Gadd (videographer). The project was made possible by a Smithsonian Research Opportunities Grant and additional private donations, as well as an equipment loan from Sony.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview recorded on video June 26-27, 1987 by his daughter Mayumi Tsutakawa, as well as the George Tsutakawa papers, 1953-1991.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from the Archives of American Art. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Sculptors -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
An interview of Chuzo Tamotzu (Tamotsu) conducted 1964 September 3 by Sylvia Loomis for the Archives of American Art.
Tamotzu discusses studying Occidental, Oriental art in Japan; traveling to Korea, Manchuria and China, South Sea Islands, Singapore, then Europe for a year; coming to New York in 1920; his involvement with An American Group; Juliana Force recruiting him for the Federal Art Project; being on the Easel Project and also on the Graphic Art Project; the Works Projects Administration; given "pink-slip" on the Project since he was not a U.S. citizen; stint in the U.S. Army, Office of Strategic Service doing propaganda paintings for psychological war material for the Japanese Army and soldiers; settling in Santa Fe, N.M.; Oriental painting; and Artist Equity Association. Tamotzu mentions Beatrice Mandelman, Louis Ribak, Robert Philip, Stuart Eddy, Frederick Knight, and Olive Rush.
Biographical / Historical:
Chuzo Tamotzu (1888-1975) was a Japanese American painter based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tamotzu was born in Japan and came to the United States in 1920. He moved to Santa Fe in 1948.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 40 min.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
The papers of Matsumi Kanemitsu measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1947-1998. The papers document Kanemitsu's career through biographical material; correspondence with friends, family, artists, universities, and galleries; professional files such as teaching files and work on juried shows; personal and business financial records; printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Matsumi Kanemitsu measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1947-1998. The papers document Kanemitsu's career through biographical material; correspondence with friends, family, artists, universities, and galleries; professional files such as teaching files and work on juried shows; personal and business financial records; printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Biographical material includes resumes, contact and business cards, assorted notes written by Kanemitsu in English and Japanese, and National Geographic membership certificates. Correspondence consist of a mix of personal letters with family and friends, many of which were other artists, as well as professional letters with galleries, museums and colleagues in both English and Japanese. Noteable correspondence include the Akron Art museum, Harold Rosenberg, Harriet and Esteban Vicente, MOMA, Paul Jenkins, Peter Pollack, William De Kooning and others. Professional files document Kanemitsu's academic appoitments, roles serving on the exhibition jury for the Utah '88: Painting and Sculpture exhibition and as a Friends of Little Tokyo Arts (FOLTA) member, commission work and an application for the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. Personal business records include sale, consignment and loan recipets, shipping records, gallery correspondence and other documents related to the creation, commission and sale of Kanemitu's work such as artwork inventory lists, gallery consignment records and commission invoices. This series also includes records pertaining to Kanemitu's travel and buisness expenses, personal finances and art collecting. Printed Material includes exhibition announcements, invitations and catalogs, magazines, posters, a posthumous retrospective exhibition catalog written in English and Japanese, clippings in English and Japanese and other miscellaneous materials. Photographic Material primarily include photographs of Kanemitsu, his children and friends. Also found are photographs of artwork, miscellaneous photographs of a winter landscape, a house and street in Japan and two slides of artwork titled Phil. The artwork series consists of two small paintings by Kanemitsu as well as a childhood drawing by his daughter Patia Valazquez.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as seven series
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1947-1992 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1947-1992 (1.3 Linear feet: Box 1-2)
Series 3: Professional Files, circa 1961-1990 (0.3 Linear feet: Box 2)
Series 4: Personal Business , circa 1959-1991 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 3)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1961-1998 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 3, OV 1)
Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1960-1992 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 3)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1970s (2 Folders: Box 3)
Biographical / Historical:
Matsumi Kanemitsu (1922-1992), also known as Mike Kanemistu was a Japanese American painter based in both New York City, New York and Los Angeles, California. Although born in Utah, Kanemitsu lived in Japan until he was eighteen. In 1940 he returned to the United States, joining the Army in 1941. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was arrested and sent to a series of Army detention camps. With art supplies provided by the American Red Cross, he began to draw with pen and ink and pastels. Eventually, he was released and volunteered for overseas duty as a hospital assistant in Europe. His Army tour ended in 1946. After the war, he studied with Fernand Leger in Paris; with Kuniyoshi, Sternberg, and others at the Art Student's League in New York; and with sculptor Karl Metzler in Baltimore. A highly recognized second generation Abstract Expressionist in New York, Kanemitsu came to live permanently in Los Angeles after recieving a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1961 to work at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop where he created a series of prints that translated sumi painting techniques into lithography. He exhibited widely throughout the United States, as well as Japan, and is work is owned by a number of public institutions in the United States and Japan. In addition to his practice, Kanemitsu also held professorial positions at a number of universities and art institutions including the University of California Berkely, the Chouinard Art Institute, amd the Otis Art Institute.
Provenance:
Donated 1994 and 1998 by Nancy Uyemura, Kanemitsu's former student, friend, and executor.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945 Search this
Citation:
Matsumi Kanemitsu papers, circa 1947-1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
