Sugimoto (Henry) Collection, 1900-1990, bulk 1920-1950

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Summary

Title:

Henry Sugimoto Collection

Dates:

1900-1990, bulk 1920-1950

Creators:

Sugimoto, Henry Yuzuru, 1900-1990

Abstract:

The collection contains extensive artwork created by Henry Sugimoto (1900-1990) as well as materials pertaining to his career and personal life. Prior to World War II, Sugimoto was an emerging artist – one of his paintings was accepted by the Salon d’Automne in France and he exhibited in several museums and galleries in California including a one-man exhibition at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. The onset of World War II and the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans on the West Coast upended Sugimoto’s family and his promising art career. However, it was in the Rohwer and Denson concentration camps where Sugimoto developed an emotional narrative style of painting, depicting the everyday moments of camp life, imbued with political commentary. The strength of this collection is the artwork generated about these camp experiences.

Extent:

1160 paintings and 97.64 linear feet of archival material, artwork, and artifacts

Preferred citation:

Items are to be credited according to their respective accession:

92.97 Gift of Madeleine Sugimoto and Naomi Tagawa, Japanese American National Museum

2015.2 Gift of Madeleine Sugimoto

2015.7 Gift of the Estate of Henry Yuzuru Sugimoto

Background

Scope and content:

The Henry Sugimoto Collection consists of paintings, prints, lithographs, sketches, drawings, books, sketchbooks, photographs, photo albums, documents and three-dimensional objects that span from the early 1920s to 1992. The camp artwork that documents life in the Jerome and Rohwer concentration camps during World War II is the strength of this collection. These oil paintings depict the narrative and emotional aspects of forced incarceration. The breadth of the collection is also unique for it captures the evolution of Sugimoto’s artistic career from his early years in Paris seeking recognition as an artist in the late 1920s to the acceptance of three of his camp paintings in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 1986. Some notable three-dimensional items from this collection include Sugimoto’s artistic tools – easels, palettes, paint boxes and the original linoleum and wood blocks he carved for his prints– as well correspondence, brochures, programs, press clippings and photographs that chronicle the development of his artistic career.

The collection comes from Hanford, California, where Sugimoto spent his early years prior to World War II (and Susie’s hometown) and New York City (Harlem) where the family resettled after the war. Along with the concentration camps, New York and its many landmarks appear frequently in Sugimoto’s postwar work.

While he dedicated most of his free time creating art, Sugimoto also spent a great deal of time with family and friends, traveling and exploring his home states of California and New York as well as overseas. He was known to have a notebook or sketchbook on him at all times, constantly sketching and capturing his surroundings. There are several photographs, letters, personal writing, sketchbooks and ephemera that capture these aspects of Sugimoto’s life in Mexico, Japan and his travels in Europe, primarily France.

Biographical / historical:

Artist Henry Yuzuru Sugimoto (1900-1990) was born in the town of Wakayama in central Japan and immigrated to Hanford, California, at nineteen years old in 1919. After graduating from Hanford Union High School in 1924, Sugimoto enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, but shortly after, dropped out to attend the California School of Arts and Crafts (now known as the California College of Arts and Crafts) instead. There, he learned watercolor and printmaking techniques, but primarily dedicated his studies to oil painting. In 1928, Sugimoto obtained his bachelor of fine arts degree, graduating with honors, then continued his studies for a short period at the California School of Fine Arts (now known as the San Francisco Art Institute).

In 1930, Sugimoto traveled to France where he studied French Impressionism among a dynamic community of Japanese artists. He achieved considerable success abroad—in 1932, one of his landscape paintings was accepted by a Parisian salon. Throughout the rest of the 1930s, Sugimoto gained attention at home and exhibited throughout California, including at the San Francisco Legion of Honor.

In 1942, Sugimoto and his family were forcibly uprooted and sent to the Fresno temporary detention center and then to the Rohwer and Jerome concentration camps in Arkansas. Sugimoto continued to paint throughout the duration of incarceration, powerfully capturing the emotional and physical burdens experienced in camp.

After the war, Henry and his family resettled in New York. Gaining little income from his art, he found work in a textile factory creating fabric patterns. After fifteen years, Henry retired from his job to resume his artistic career full-time. In his small studio in Manhattan, he painted countless scenes of the urban New York City skylines, inspired by his morning walks around Central Park. He also continued to depict scenes of life in camp, and turned many of his paintings from Jerome into wood and lino block prints. His camp works and testimony during the 1970s and 1980s were key to the movement for redress and reparations for the Japanese American community.

The Henry Sugimoto collection documents the artist’s significant stylistic range, his extensive travels, and the artistic influences of each place on his work. Landscape scenes of the French countryside, Yosemite, and Carmel recount his early ventures as an independent artist. Scenes at the Jerome concentration camp relay the burden of everyday life in camp. Recognizable sites of the New York skyline during the fall and spring indicate a nostalgic turn during Sugimoto’s twilight years to document small changes around him. The story of Henry Sugimoto is one of resilience, creativity, and the power of artistic expression.

[Biography from https://www.janm.org/exhibits/henry-sugimoto/bio]

Acquisition information:

Accessions were acquired in 1992 and 2015.

Processing information:

Paintings from the 92.97 accession were processed by JANM staff. The processing and digitization of the rest of the collection (accessions 2015.2 and 2015.7) was created as part of an IMLS grant. Many of the paintings and artwork were cataloged by interns Jillian Yanai (Getty Marrow) and Maya Lee. Nikki Chang was project archivist for the collection, cataloged items, and wrote the finding aid.

Arrangement:

All of the objects from 92.97 have been cataloged in the Japanese American National Museum’s database. These paintings are described in detail in a separate legacy finding aid.

Several objects from the Hanford collection (2015.2) were featured in the exhibition, 'Henry Sugimoto: Painting an American Experience' which was on display at the Japanese American National Museum from March 21 to October 7, 2001. These objects along with a majority of the paintings and artwork have been cataloged. Paintings and artwork from 2015.7 have also been cataloged.

The remaining objects are uncataloged and have been organized by subjects and types of materials. They have been organized into the following categories:

Exhibition Material - Organized by date, 1929-1992 and includes correspondence from various museums and galleries, brochures, museum administrative paperwork, catalogs and programs.

Correspondence - Non-exhibition correspondence that is separated by language. English correspondence is organized by date, 1926-1990. Correspondence from Japan and France are also organized by year, 1950s-1980s.

Miscellaneous Writings (by Sugimoto) - Various writings, essays, speeches, notes and drafts written by Sugimoto, separated by language. Japanese writings include Sugimoto’s autobiography.

Tsuguharu Leonard Foujita - Material pertaining to Tsuguharu Leonard Foujita, one of Sugimoto's lifelong friends. items include correspondence, Foujita exhibition programs and catalogs, greeting cards and artwork created by Foujita, Sugimoto’s handwritten memories of Foujita and photographs.

Photographs, negatives and slides - Several photographs, negatives, transparencies and slides of Sugimoto with his family, friends, exhibitions and many of his artwork.

Personal Papers - Documents and objects regarding Sugimoto’s education, family, church-related, Hanford and other miscellaneous papers. Significant papers include Sugimoto’s report cards and yearbooks from Hanford Union High School as well as drafts of his redress testimony.

Professional Papers - Paperwork pertaining to Sugimoto's artistic career such as artist biography and resume, administrative paperwork, research materials, captions/labels for artwork and listings and prices for paintings. Includes an unpublished handwritten art technique manuscript by Sugimoto. Manuscript is written in Japanese.

Press - Various newspaper clippings, photo copies, newsletters, and magazines collected by or sent to Sugimoto. Items have been separated by language and organized by date. English press covers the period from 1940s to 1990s and Japanese press items from the 1960s to 1980s.

Interviews with Sugimoto - Interviews of Sugimoto (plus one with his daughter, Madeleine) on audio cassette, VHS and other formats, 1976-1984. Primarily in Japanese.

Various artwork - Sugimoto’s sketches and drawings as well composed artwork - holiday cards, illustrations for 'New Friends for Susan' book, woodblock prints (by Sugimoto and his students from Jerome), small paintings and color chart designed by Sugimoto.

Books - Several books in English, Japanese and French collected or given to Sugimoto. Many of these books are from the time he spent in California.

Physical location:

Japanese American National Museum. 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Rohwer Relocation Center (Ark.)
Issei
Names:: Sugimoto, Henry Yuzuru, 1900-1990

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Finding aid created by Nikki Chang and Jamie Henricks.
Date Encoded:: Machine-readable finding aid created by Nikki Chang and Jamie Henricks. Date of source: March 31, 2025 .

Access and use

Restrictions:: By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is required.
Terms of access:: All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).