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Peaceful Painter: Memoirs of an Issei Woman Artist

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Hisako Hibi never had an easy life. She came to the U. S. in 1920 from Japan hoping to find a better life for herself. But in the 1940s, along with tens of thousands of other Japanese-Americans, she was put into a detention camp. After the war, she worked in dress factories after her husband died. The constant changes in her life never gave her the opportunity to pursue her artistic ambitions beyond some brief education in her early years in the U. S. But she picked up enough to paint oil paintings in a bright, bold, somewhat cubist style. Many of these offer views of the detention camps she was held at. Hibi was also an observant, competent writer of English who kept a journal, lengthy passages of which are also included. This Issei woman's daughter has also added photographs to this commemoration of her mother's life which typifies the experiences of Japanese on the West coast during World War II. At the same time, it draws a memorable portrait of this woman who recorded in pictures and words historical and personal incidents in her quiet, determined, accomplished way.