Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Shellwork Rose Pin, c. 1942-1945 |
Object Name |
Shellwork |
Description |
Japanese Internment Camp Shell Art Pin, August 12, 1944. Circular wooden pin base decorated with various painted shells made to look like a flower arrangement. Arrangement has tiny clamshells painted pink and arranged in 3 clusters to look like peonies, with shards of mother of pearl painted green for leaves. Three more clusters, each of five clamshells painted light blue and one snail shell painted yellow. Background of unpainted snail shells, and an outer rim of clamshells painted gray. On the back of the pin is glued a hinged pin. The pin is attached to a beige card with the following text: "HANDMADE / with SHELLS $3.75 / #1126 - 8-12-44". Made by Yoshiko Yamanouchi while interned at Topaz internment camp in Utah. |
Date |
c. 1942-1945 |
Creator |
Yamanouchi, Yoshiko |
Role |
Artist |
Medium |
Paint |
Catalog Number |
2019.048.004.2 |
Dimensions |
H-1 W-2.5 D-2.5 inches |
Collection |
3D - Art |
Inscription Text |
The pin is attached to a beige card with the following text: "HANDMADE / with SHELLS $3.75 / #1126 - 8-12-44". |
Inscription Language |
English |
Provenance |
Made by Yoshiko Yamanouchi while she was interned at "Topaz" Central Utah Relocation Center during World War II. |
Notes |
"Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, all ethnic Japanese on the West Coast—more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens by birth—were ordered to leave their homes and move to ten inland internment camps for the duration of the war. While in these bleak camps, the internees used scraps and found materials to make furniture and other objects to beautify their surroundings. Arts and crafts became essential for simple creature comforts and emotional survival. These objects—tools, teapots, furniture, toys and games, musical instruments, pendants and pins, purses and ornamental displays—are physical manifestations of the art of gaman, a Japanese word that means to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience." https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/gaman |
Search Terms |
Yamanouchi, Yoshiko Art Pin Japan Japanese Japanese - World War II Japanese Americans Japanese Americans - Internment Japanese Americans - Topaz Japanese Americans Internment Japanese Evacuation Japanese History |
Subjects |
Art Japan Japanese internment |
People |
Yamanouchi, Yoshiko |
Credit line |
Courtesy of Laura Watanuki |