Obata

It was 1927 in Yosemite.

Ansel Adams was in the limelight for a stunning, almost-surreal photograph of Half Dome. Nearly half a million visitors were rushing into the park, thanks to the recent completion of Highway 140. And a middle-aged Japanese artist was quietly navigating the Yosemite wilderness, appreciating, documenting, and drawing the epic beauty around him.

Chiura Obata spent six weeks during his first trip to the park away from the crowds in Yosemite Valley, mostly in the High Sierra. He described the experience as “the greatest harvest for my whole life and future in painting.” He completed 100 drawings in pencil, watercolor, and sumi ink, more than 30 of which he later translated into color woodcuts. His works now reside in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; and the de Young Museum in San Francisco, among others.

Obata’s traditionally Japanese artistic style sets him apart from other artists who’ve captured the beauty of Yosemite. And while he did make prints of El Capitan and Half Dome, the bulk of his work captures different aspects of the park and atypical moments of beauty and the power of nature.

The Obata Art Weekend, she says, provides an opportunity for visitors to connect with nature in a more meaningful way.