Pain, Injustice, and Pain Again “Hatsuki Wasaka Shot by M.P.” is an 11 inch by 15 ½ inch sumi-ink-on-paper painting by Chiura Obata from 1943. It depicts the infamous incident of James Hatsuki Wasaka, a Japanese-American prisoner who was shot and killed by a sentry of the Military Police at the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah. Wasaka, a 62 year old Issei (an immigrant from Japan to North America), had been walking around the camp’s fenced perimeter when the guard shouted four times for him to halt. But Wasaka with his auditory impairments was unable to comply, and was subsequently shot by the guard (Obata 95). Most onlookers believed that Wasaka was confused and couldn’t understand what was being shouted at him. Court-martial proceedings took place for the sentry, after which he was pronounced not guilty (Yellin 275). The …show more content…
Obata has used several elements of art such as lines, light, color, texture, shape and space to recreate the scene of the shooting. The most dominant feelings this work of art invokes in a person are pain, despair, distress, pity and an overwhelming sense of injustice. The pain is clear on the face of the man while a closer look at the dog’s expression shows nothing but despair and distress, with the pity and injustice being felt by the viewer.
This paper first discusses the elements of art that Obata has used in his work. We see that Wasaka has company: his dog stares in despair while his master gives way and the barbed-wire fence stands throughout, rugged and forbidding. Bold and strong lines have been used to make Wasaka the focus of the work along with the fence of the camp while lighter and thinner curved lines have been used to bring closure and completeness to details like the wrinkles in the man’s clothes or the secondary outline of the dog beside him. Horizontal lines have been utilized to mark the barbed wire and in order to give the viewer a sense of a vast expanse of wilderness
To begin with, the focal point of this piece is a woman 's face with a map of the world on it. I attempted to draw the face with a likeliness to Amniata in mind, by incorporating the moon marks that are adorned on her face. As well as her facial expression is rather difficult to read. From the beginning of novel, Amniata says; "My eyes are hard to read, and I like them so"(8). She takes it great care in concealing her emotions.
This paper will analyze Improvisation In a Persian Garden (Mary Catherine Bateson), Seeing (Annie Dillard), and Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination (Leslie Marmon Silko). Going through the Purpose, audience, context, ethics, and stance of each author’s piece.
Gesensway, Deborah and Mindy Roseman. Beyond Words, Images from America’s Concentration Camps. New York: Cornell University Press, 1987. Print.
The guards won’t let them do anything that they normally do and experience, along with beating them for not understanding the orders of the Japanese. I believe that this is an example of dehumanization because the guards are taking away what the men are used to. Mine experienced the perspective of feeling invisible as well as other Japanese-Americans in internee camps when they were given a number for their whole family, “My family name was reduced to No. Mine and other Japanese-American internees were very good at resisting invisibility in clever ways, such as when they weren’t allowed to have cameras, “Internees were not allowed to have cameras, but Miné wanted to document what was happening inside the camps. She put her artistic talent to use making sketches of daily life inside the fences” (The Life of Mine Okubo). Mine is defying the rules of the camp by creating art about the people in their “daily lives” at the camp that she is located in.
In this work, the colors and shapes come together to form the depiction of a woman in a chair gazing out at the landscape beyond a window. This subject matter relates to Picasso’s infamous relationship with women and may serve as a depiction of one of the many women he was linked with. The painting depicts the woman with a dual omniscient and introspective vision. Picasso develops this dichotomy through the depiction of a wayward eye gazing out the window and a larger ubiquitous eye glaring directly at the viewers. In constructing such a contrast, the painter is able to convey the personality...
One of the most prominent features of the painting is the use of repetition. In the forefront of the picture plane we see a three-pronged pitchfork. That sam...
...n image of desolate grief that the lone brother feels for his lifeless sibling. Image is truly the most important element in the style of this story.
“She took a chance by entering a Berkeley art contest through the mail and won.” (The Life of Mine Okubo) Mine was able to leave behind the isolation she experienced during the camps by winning the contest. Another case where invisibility was resisted was when Mine sketched her daily life in the camps. “Internees were not allowed to have cameras, but Mine wanted to document what was happening in the camps. She put her artistic talents to use making sketches of daily life inside the fences.” (The Life of Mine Okubo) Instead of using recording devices to reveal what internment camp life was, Mine used art. Likewise, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, also known as “The Bird,” was a Japanese sergeant who mistreated the prisoners of war. “Time ticked on, and still Louie remained, the beam over his head, his eyes on the Bird’s face, enduring long past when he should have collapsed.” (Hillenbrand 213) Watanabe’s central target was Louie Zamperini because of his running career in the past. As a result, he often abused Louie more than the other prisoners. Prisoners of war and internees will “resist invisibility” while in the
Before analysing selected art works in more detail it will be worth introducing a few different definitions and hypothesis of aesthetics in art based on theories of well-known critical thinkers.
In chapter six of the book, the pictorial imagery demonstrates a variety of art forms connoting its realism and diversity of the power of connecting to wealth in contradiction to the deprived in the western culture. The images used in this chapter relate to one another and state in the analogy the connection of realism that is depicted in social statues, landscapes, and portraiture, also present in the state of medium that was used to create this work of art. In fact, some of the works presented depict mythological paintings that resemble the transcending metaphysical matter of nature. Take for instance, the general aspect of the artwork presented in this chapter. They depict different social levels through the use of objects, emotions and various conditions.
Since its emergence over 30,000 years ago, one of visual art’s main purposes has been to act as an instrument of personal expression and catharsis. Through the mastery of paint, pencil, clay, and other mediums, artists can articulate and make sense of their current situation or past experiences, by portraying their complex, abstract emotions in a concrete form. The act of creation gives the artist a feeling of authority or control over these situations and emotions. Seen in the work of Michelangelo, Frida Kahlo, Jean Michel-Basquiat, and others, artists’ cathartic use of visual art is universal, giving it symbolic value in literature. In Natasha Trethewey's Native Guard, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,
In this artwork there is the use of organic and geometric shapes, space, and lines. Lippi uses his space actively in this picture it is not just void and dull but it brings the whole picture into focus. We could examine in the picture that space behaves as insight into the picture. Space in this picture gives context clues to the location of the picture, the emotions of the artist, and emotions of the characters in
The poet in her writing used the language tools of symbolism, images, metaphor and nature to illustrate her poetic ideas. The writer, used the word ‘’Hunters’’ in the first line which indicates an imagery of man in existence, example
The gestural and heavy working of the paint and the contrasting colors make the painting appear active yet are arduous to follow. The defining element of Woman and Bicycle is the presence of the black lines that do most of the work in terms of identifying the figure. Through the wild nature of the brushwork, color, and composition of the painting, it can be implied that the artist is making an implication towards the wild nature of even the most proper of women.
...s work The 3rd of May, 1808 is a very detailed and dramatic narrative within a collection of war themed works by the artist. I believe that by using the formal elements of color, texture, shape, lines, space, and the value I was able to sufficiently provide evidence that Goya offers a sequential order of direction for the audience to comprehend from their personal viewing. The twisted and grief stricken work creates a massive emotional connection and the artist plans for the viewers’ to grow and understand this message. The subject highlighted is obvious that Goya is passionate on his stance and outlook on war is suggested in the work. It’s obvious that Goya’s formal organization of his color palette, variation of brushes, repeating shapes, and play with lighting all correspond to depict man’s savage and at times monstrous actions are justified during war.