Chiura Obata: Ink painting of a Seated Female Model Wearing Sandals

A curvy model is seated cross-legged on the ground, her sandal-clad feet facing the viewer. Obata has used a combination of brushstroke styles that masterfully capture the figure. On her face and hair he has used a very wet brush, which nevertheless demonstrates his skill in expressing facial features. Her hair is very full, and somehow we feel like we recognize this woman as someone we might have met before.  It is interesting to note that we sense the floor that she is seated on just by the distribution of her weight, as there is not a single stroke that delineates a background or floor. This is probably a demonstration painting for one of his many art classes at Berkeley, where he taught between and 1932 and 1954. 

Obata’s economy of line and mastery of the brush are practically unequalled in 20th c. American art. He influenced a generation of California artists, and at his own count taught more than 10,000 students. The University of California, Berkeley preserved all of his paintings and sketches while Obata and his family were interned in Utah during WWII. There is an exhibition of Obata’s work that ran for the first half of 2024 at SFMOMA.

Provenance: Estate of Chiura Obata. With a certificate of authenticity from the estate of the artist.