Skip to main contentBiographyHenry Sugimoto was born in 1900 in Gozenmatsu, Wakayama prefecture. After he finished his studies at Wakayama Middle School, he traveled to Hanford, California, to join his parents who had immigrated years earlier. Sugimoto graduated from Hanford High School and then went on to continue his studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He eventually transferred to the California College of Arts, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1928.
After completing his studies, he taught art and Japanese language for a living. He also traveled to France and Mexico to develop and hone his art. With the outbreak of World War II, Sugimoto and his family were forcibly removed from Hanford to the Fresno assembly center and then transported to the concentration camps at Jerome and later Rohwer, Arkansas. After the war, the family resettled in New York City where Sugimoto designed fabric and continued to paint.
Sugimoto has received numerous awards. His painting have been exhibited in many public and private galleries in the United States, Europe and Japan. During the 1980s, both the Smithsonian and the Wakayama Modern Art Museum acquired some of Sugimoto's paintings for their permanent collection.
Though his paintings encompass many styles and subjects, Sugimoto is best known for his depictions of the World War II concentration camps. These emotionally charged works reveal many aspects of the Japanese American experience during World War II, conjuring the fear and trauma and other facets of life within the barbed wire fences. Late in his life, Sugimoto also painted a series of canvases depicting the pre-World War II issei experience. Henry Sugimoto died at the age of 90 on May 8, 1990, at his home in New York.
Henry Sugimoto
American, 1900 - 1990
After completing his studies, he taught art and Japanese language for a living. He also traveled to France and Mexico to develop and hone his art. With the outbreak of World War II, Sugimoto and his family were forcibly removed from Hanford to the Fresno assembly center and then transported to the concentration camps at Jerome and later Rohwer, Arkansas. After the war, the family resettled in New York City where Sugimoto designed fabric and continued to paint.
Sugimoto has received numerous awards. His painting have been exhibited in many public and private galleries in the United States, Europe and Japan. During the 1980s, both the Smithsonian and the Wakayama Modern Art Museum acquired some of Sugimoto's paintings for their permanent collection.
Though his paintings encompass many styles and subjects, Sugimoto is best known for his depictions of the World War II concentration camps. These emotionally charged works reveal many aspects of the Japanese American experience during World War II, conjuring the fear and trauma and other facets of life within the barbed wire fences. Late in his life, Sugimoto also painted a series of canvases depicting the pre-World War II issei experience. Henry Sugimoto died at the age of 90 on May 8, 1990, at his home in New York.
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