Pictures of Belonging

Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo   This unprecedented book brings together over ninety works by three pioneering Japanese American artists from the pre–World War II generation. Despite their long careers and critical acclaim, Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo have largely been overlooked in traditional American art history. This groundbreaking publication reintroduces their work and explores their deep connections with each other for the first time.  Through three chronological sections, the book traces the careers of these artists from the 1920s to the 1990s. “Faces & Communities” presents pre–World War II portraiture and figurative works, while “Belongings & (dis)Locations” showcases landscapes and still lifes from the prewar and wartime periods. The final section, “Explorations & Rediscoveries,” features postwar abstractions. Pictures of Belonging foregrounds the rich and heterogeneous oeuvres of Hayakawa, Hibi, and Okubo, which