Billboard

1932

American (born in Japan), 1897–1948

Late in 1919, the young Tokita emigrated from Japan, arrived in Seattle, and had a change of plans. Rather than continue on to his scheduled destination, Chicago, he decided to seek his fortunes in the Northwest. Soon, he met Kenjiro Nomura, who taught him how to paint, and through Nomura, he pursued a successful career as a commercial sign painter and co-owner of Noto Sign Co. His training in calligraphy as a youth in Japan served him well when mastering the precision required in his new profession.

Like Nomura, Tokita was an avid oil painter who specialized in the realist style and regional subject matter of the 1930s American Scene. This view of billboards angled dramatically along an urban roadway reflects his skill with design, expertise as a draftsman, and command of space and perspective. He exhibited Billboard in 1932 at the nascent Seattle Art Museum’s Eighteenth Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists. In a letter to director Dr. Richard Fuller, he identified it as his strongest painting of that year.

Oil on canvas

18 15/16 x 23 in. (48.1 x 58.4 cm)

Gift of the artist

35.214

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Art Institute of Seattle, 18th Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists, Oct. 6 - Nov. 6, 1932.

Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Art of the Thirties: The Pacific Northwest, 1972 (Portland Art Museum).

Seattle, Washington, Pacific Northwest Arts Council of Seattle Art Museum,Urban Reflections: Art of the 1930s-1970s, Nov. 1975.

Seattle, Washington, King County Courthouse, Department of Rehabilitative Services, May 1976.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The View From Here: The Pacific Northwest 1870-1940, July 1, 2004 - Mar. 27, 2005.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Painting Seattle: Kamekichi Tokita and Kenjiro Nomura, Oct. 22, 2011 - Feb.19, 2012.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Northwest Modernism: Four Japanese Americans, Mar. 20, 2021 - June 5, 2022.

Published ReferencesKingsbury, Martha. Art of the Thirties: The Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, Henry Art Gallery, 1972; cat. no. 39, p. 26, reproduced p. 55, 19.

Johns, Barbara. Signs of Home: The Paintings and Wartime Diary of Kamekichi Tokita, in association with Painting Seattle: Kamekichi Tokita and Kenjiro Nomura. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 2011; pp. 67-68, reproduced fig. 50.

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