»The Life and Art of Tokio Ueyama«

After the attacks on Pearl Harbor in 1941, a total of 120,000 US-Americans of Japanese descent were placed in concentration camps. They were considered a security risk. The painter Tokio Ueyama (1889-1954) and his wife Suye lived in one of these camps in the state of Colorado, now known as Amache National Historic Site. He taught his fellow men painting there and thus had a great influence on the blending of Japanese and American cultures. In 1945, Ueyama and his wife were allowed to return to Los Angeles. This chapter in the history of the USA, unknown to many, plays a major role in the life of the painter, to whom the Denver Art Museum is now dedicating a comprehensive exhibition. The show is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the diverse society of the USA, to share its history and to develop new perspectives on the past and the present. The Life and Art of Tokio Ueyama runs from July 28, 2024 to June 1, 2025 and features over 40 paintings on loan from Ueyama's family and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

Tokyo Ueyama came to the USA in 1908 at the age of 18 and spent the rest of his life there. He studied in San Francisco and Philadelphia, among other places, traveled to Europe and Mexico (where he traded paintings with Diego Rivera) and proved to be an important social figure in his Little Tokyo neighborhood in Los Angeles. He won numerous art awards and had many exhibitions in Southern California. His paintings from the internment period in particular are impressive testimonies to resilience and creativity in the face of strong prejudice. After their internment, the Ueyama couple opened the Bunkado souvenir store in Little Tokyo, which still exists there today.