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From DiscoverNikkei.org

Hideo Date

Painter (1907-2005)

Hideo Date was born in Osaka, Japan and emigrated to California in 1923. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, but left after a year to pursue the study of traditional brush painting in Japan. Date returned to Los Angeles where he spent the 1930s immersed in the burgeoning Los Angeles art scene. He interacted and exhibited with other young artists through groups such as the College Art Association, the Foundation of Western Art, the Los Angeles Oriental Artists Group, and the Los Angeles Art Association. Date was influenced by Stanton MacDonald-Wright who oversaw the Los Angeles Art Students League. Date was also a part of the "Independents," a group of L.A.-based artists who rejected the tenets of modernism.

With the outbreak of World War II, Date was sent first to the Santa Anita Race Track, California and then to Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming, where he taught art privately to other Japanese American inmates. He went to New York City after the war and continued to involve himself with other artists and associations. He traveled extensively, going to New Orleans and back to Los Angeles, and then to Italy and France.

Date's body of work is important to an understanding of Japanese American history, particularly in terms of looking at the changes over time from the early prewar period through to the present day. Date is additionally important because of his issei status, shedding light on the immigrant generation and the role of artists in the prewar era.

Hideo Date died at age 98 on January 6, 2005 in Queens, New York.

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• Hideo Date Collection (Japanese American National Museum Collections Online)

Includes full image and cataloging information for 178 drawings, prints, and paintings by Hideo Date in the collections of the Japanese American National Museum.

• Exhibition: "Living in Color: The Art of Hideo Date" (Los Angeles, Japanese American National Museum, October 27, 2001-April 7, 2002)
  • Exhibition catalog
  • Review: Michael Duncan, "Hideo Date at the Japanese American National Museum - Los Angeles". Art in America January 2003 (via LookSmart.com)
  • Review: Maria I. Ko, "Hideo Date's True Colors, True Art". Sushi&Tofu.com (02/2002)
• Hideo Date prints: Japanese American National Museum Store Online

Works

Cathleen (1930s)

Untitled (1947)

Untitled (1966)

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Last updated on November 28, 2005