BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//PYVOBJECT//NONSGML Version 1//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:events.uid.3286@www.discovernikkei.org DTSTART:20110924T000000Z DTEND:20110924T000000Z DESCRIPTION:"A few short days has changed my status in this country\, altho ugh I myself have not changed at all."&nbsp\;\n\nOn December 8\, 1941\, ar tist Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889-1953) awoke to find himself branded an "enemy a lien" by the U.S. government in the aftermath of Japan&rsquo\;s attack on Pearl Harbor. The historical crisis forced Kuniyoshi\, an &eacute\;migr&ea cute\; Japanese with a distinguished career in American art\, to rethink h is pictorial strategies and to confront questions of loyalty\, assimilatio n\, national and racial identity that he had carefully avoided in his prew ar art. As an immigrant who had proclaimed himself to be as "American as t he next fellow\," the realization of his now fractured and precarious stat us catalyzed the development of an emphatic and conscious identity constru ct that would underlie Kuniyoshi&rsquo\;s art and public image for the rem ainder of his life.&nbsp\;\n\nDrawing on previously unexamined primary sou rces\,&nbsp\;<em>Becoming American?</em>&nbsp\;is the first scholarly book in over two decades to offer an in-depth and critical analysis of Yasuo K uniyoshi&rsquo\;s pivotal works\, including his "anti-Japan" posters and r adio broadcasts for U.S. propaganda\, and his coded and increasingly enigm atic paintings\, within their historical contexts. Through the prism of an identity crisis\, the book examines Kuniyoshi&rsquo\;s imagery and writin gs as vital means for him to engage\, albeit often reluctantly and ambival ently\, in discussions about American democracy and ideals at a time when racial and national origins were grounds for mass incarceration and discri mination. It is also among the first scholarly studies to investigate the activities of Americans of Japanese descent outside the internment camps a nd the intense pressures with which they had to deal in the aftermath of P earl Harbor.&nbsp\;\n\nAs an art historical book\,&nbsp\;<em>Becoming Amer ican?</em>&nbsp\;foregrounds broader historical debates of what constitute d American art\, a central preoccupation of Kuniyoshi&rsquo\;s artistic mi lieu. It illuminates the complicating factors of race\, diasporas\, and id eology in the construction of an American cultural identity. Timely and pr ovocative\, the book historicizes and elucidates the ways in which "minori ty" artists have been\, and continue to be\, both championed and marginali zed for their cultural and ethnic "difference" within the twentieth-centur y American art canon.\n\n<strong>Free with Museum admission. Reservations recommended to rsvp@janm.org or 213.625.0414 at least 48 hours prior.</str ong>\n<a href="http://www.janm.org/" target="_blank">www.janm.org</a>\n DTSTAMP:20240416T131117Z SUMMARY:BOOKS & CONVERSATIONS: "Becoming American? The Art and Identity Cri sis of Yasuo Kuniyoshi" by Shipu Wang URL:/en/events/2011/09/24/books-conversations-becoming-american-the-art/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR