Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Shellwork Rasberries, c. 1942-1945 |
Object Name |
Shellwork |
Description |
Japanese Internment Camp Shell Art Boutonniere, October 21st, 1944. Boutonniere made of wrapped wire stems with shell clusters made to look like raspberries tied with a green ribbon. 8 green wrapped-wire stems, looped at the bottom and wrapped with floral tape, then tied around with an olive green ribbon bow. Three stems have mother of pearl fragments shaped into leaves and painted green. Five stems have beehive-shaped clusters of tiny snail shells glued together and painted dark reddish-pink, with fabric leaves at the base. Made by Yoshiko Yamanouchi while interned at Topaz internment camp in Utah. |
Date |
c. 1942-1945 |
Creator |
Yamanouchi, Yoshiko |
Role |
Artist |
Catalog Number |
2019.048.004.6 |
Dimensions |
H-1.5 W-6.5 D-3 inches |
Collection |
3D - Art |
Inscription Text |
Boutonniere is tied to a small label with hand-written note for sale: "1126 / 10-21-44 / 3.75 / Reduce to / 2.00" |
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 |
Pin Boutonniere Japan Japanese Japanese - World War II Japanese Americans Japanese Americans - Internment Japanese Americans - Topaz Japanese Americans Internment Japanese Evacuation Japanese History WWII WWII - Incarceration Japanese American World War II World War II - Japanese World War Two |
Subjects |
World War II Japan Japanese internment Art |
People |
Yamanouchi, Yoshiko |
Credit line |
Courtesy of Laura Watanuki |