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Peaceful Painter:
Memoirs of an Issei Woman Artist

Hisako Hibi
Introduction by Kristine Kim
Recollections by Ibuki Hibi Lee

90 pages (8 x 8), with 24 color plates
Trade paper, ISBN: 1-890771-90-2, $20.00

Published in conjunction with the Japanese American National Museum

Born in Japan, Hisako Hibi came to America with her parents as a teenager. When they returned to Japan, she chose to remain behind on her own, later marrying a fellow art student. When she and her husband were relocated in 1942 to the Topaz internment camp in Utah they became teachers at the art school founded by Chiura Obata. In 1945 they moved to New York, where she found work as an apprentice seamstress. Her husband died within two years but she stayed on and raised her children, also studying at the Museum of Modern Art. Hisako Hibi continued painting for the next forty years and, after she returned to San Francisco in 1954, she exhibited her work in numerous shows including several one-person events.

Her art, and the informal journals and notes that she kept during those years, are the basis for this book. Hibi’s work while interned largely reflected her life as a young woman, wife, and mother, and her later work reflects the same keen sense of clarity about different subjects. Taken together, her paintings offer an insight into the daily life of a woman who would not abandon her art or betray her spirit.

Reviews:

"This is a beautiful and inspiring book. The words and paintings of Hisako Hibi add an important chapter to the still-unfolding story of what Japanese Americans experienced during the World War II internment. They also tell the story of a remarkable life, one that illustrates the indomitable spirit of the Issei, the pioneering first generation."
—James D. Houston and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, authors of Farewell to Manzanar

"With her luminous art and the grace and poignancy of her words, Hisako Hibi tells her remarkable journey as an immigrant woman, wife, mother, and artist. Her story of survival and accomplishment is made all the more extraordinary by the gentle wisdom of her voice."
—Kimi Kodani Hill, author of Topaz Moon

"Through her words and art, the remarkable Hisako Hibi conveys the harsh challenge of life within the Tanforan Assembly Center and the Topaz internment camp, as well as the generous, resilient spirit that enabled her to endure and prevail. Her compassion and creative drive infuse this engaging memoir."
—Valerie Matsumoto, Professor of History/Asian American Studies, UCLA

About the Author:

Hisako Shimizu Hibi (1907-1991) was born in a farming village near Kyoto, Japan, and moved to California at age fourteen. She studied western-style oil painting at the California School of Fine Arts and participated in annual exhibitions at the San Francisco Art Association. During World War II Hibi was relocated with her family to the Tanforan Assembly Center and the Topaz internment camp. There she and her husband, George Matsusaburo Hibi, taught art in the camp schools. Once released, her family moved to New York City and her husband died soon thereafter. While working as a dressmaker to support her family, Hibi continued to paint. She returned to San Francisco in 1954. Her work was exhibited throughout her career, and by the end of her life she was well entrenched in the San Francisco Bay Area arts community.