WEBVTT

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GUEST: I brought a woodblock
print that's been in my family
for quite some time.

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I know it's by Chiura Obata, but
I don't know a ton more about
the painting itself,

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aside from it having been in my
family since around 1940 or
earlier.

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APPRAISER: Okay, and then we
have a picture that you brought
in.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: Can you tell me
what's going on in the picture?

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GUEST: This is my grandfather.

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APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

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GUEST: My great-grandfather,
great-grandmother, and my
grandfather's siblings. And this
is in

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San Pedro, California, which is
the L.A. area. And the painting
is here in the background.

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APPRAISER: The exact one that
we're looking at right now.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm, the same one.

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APPRAISER: The artist's
life is really fascinating.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: Uh, he was born in
1885, in Japan. And at an early
age, he already

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was a, a, a, apprenticing to
learn sumi-e painting-- line
painting, essentially. And he

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emigrated to the United States
fairly early on-- he emigrated
in 1903. When in the United
States,

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he became f, fairly successful
fairly quickly, despite a lot of
racism and xenophobia.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: And there are a lot
of stories about him having to

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run away from ruffians. And this
was a difficult time in, in, in
history...

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: ...for Japanese,
uh, immigrants to America.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: His talents really
kept him going. He became a very

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successful commercial
illustrator. One of the subjects
that he did love painting was
nature,

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and he loved going into the
Sierra Nevadas, and he loved
going into Yosemite. The title
of this

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is "Evening Glow of Yosemite
Waterfall." This is someone who
sought to convey the feelings

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that we would get from being
there. He wanted to bring into
his artistic oeuvre and
production

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some of his Japanese techniques.
And one of the Japanese
techniques that he would,

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of course, bring in would have,
would have been woodblock
printing. There was a company
that made

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woodblock prints from these
watercolor drawings that he made
for the, this exact "World of
Art"

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Yosemite book that basically
showcased his love of these
California landscapes.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: This was around 1930.
Now, this piece is from that
series. It's signed and

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dated, uh, "Chiura Obata, 1930."
But there's another part to the
history here. This was

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painted in 1930. When World War
II happened, we all know that,
unfortunately-- and this is an,
a

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very unfortunate part of
American history-- that a lot of
Japanese Americans were
interned.

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Just looking at this picture,
for example, that you brought,
which is of your greater
family...

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GUEST: Yes.

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APPRAISER: ...what
can you tell us?

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GUEST: They were interned.
Before the internment, my
great-grandfather was imprisoned
under

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unfounded suspicion of having
dealings with the Japanese
military. When he did get out,

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he passed away a day later. And
then shortly after that, the
rest of the family was

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interned. But while they were in
internment camp, a good friend
and neighbor took care

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of all their belongings. So
that's how we are fortunate
enough to still have this
painting.

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APPRAISER: The artist
himself was also interned.

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GUEST: Right.

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APPRAISER: Even being a
professor at U.C.-Berkeley,

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even owning a shop on Telegraph
Avenue. The shop itself was
attacked.

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GUEST: Wow.

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APPRAISER: And he himself was
sent to an internment camp.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: And the really
interesting thing about this is
that at the internment camps,

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he actually started some
programs for education and art
schools.

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GUEST: Hm. Interesting.

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APPRAISER: After he did come
out, eventually he did come back
to

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resuming his post at
U.C.-Berkeley. And he lived
until 1975. In the '50s,

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he was going back to Japan and
people were celebrating his
works. That book that I'm

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mentioning, for which this was
published, was actually
published by a Japanese
publisher.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: They also respected
his artistic ability and the
grandeur of California.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: Even those these were
prints, they were really
considered masterworks. They
were,

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they were printed in very
limited editions of only 100.

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GUEST: Oh. APPRAISER: But a
lot of them were tossed...

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: ...until, um, he
basically agreed that they were,

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that they were perfect. We don't
know how many of them exist
anymore. Have

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you ever thought about value or
how much you might value it for?

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GUEST: Um, I have no idea.

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APPRAISER: If I was going to put
an insurance value on this
today,

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because I'm assuming you'd
probably want to insure it for
the family...

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GUEST: Definitely.

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APPRAISER: ...I would easily
insure it at $20,000.

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GUEST: Wow. (laughs) Okay.
(laughs) Wow. It's amazing.