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Rihoko Ueno
Scope and Contents
The papers of Japanese American artists Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi measure 5.4 linear feet and date from circa 1906-2022, bulk 1940-1990. These papers are mainly focused on Hisako Hibi's life and career, with some content related to her husband Matsusaburo "George" Hibi. Included are biographical material consisting of immigration documents and interview transcripts; scrapbooks; printed material including catalogs and newspaper clippings; personal and professional correspondence; scattered records of works sold, loaned and donated; and numerous sketchbooks and notebooks. Also found is Matsusaburo's handwritten account of founding the art school at Topaz incarceration camp along with other material related to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Biographical material consists of a material on both Hisako and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi. Materials in this series include their marriage license, biographical profiles, transcripts of interviews with Hisako Hibi, membership cards, and condition reports on a few of Hisako Hibi's paintings. Also noteworthy are a few subject files compiled by Hisako Hibi related to the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Personal and professional correspondence is between the Hibis and their friends, colleagues, museums, galleries, and other institutions. Some of the later correspondence is addressed to their daughter Ibuki Lee. Notable correspondents include Michael Chepourkoff, Alan Lau, Mine Okubo, and Helen Salz.
The bulk of the exhibition files consist of materials related to Hisako Hibi's group and solo exhibitions, along with a few files on Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's exhibitions. The exhibition files contain a range of materials such as correspondence, printed material, price lists, catalogs, and guest books or pages from guest books.
Scrapbooks were mostly compiled by Hisako Hibi regarding her artwork and exhibitions. The scrapbooks contain correspondence, award ribbons, exhibitions announcements, catalogs, clippings, and photographs. There is also one scrapbook on Hisako's trip abroad in 1963 and one scrapbook about Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's artwork and exhibitions.
Printed material includes a wide range of printed materials such as exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazines, periodicals, clippings, newsletters, program guides, and calendars. Most of the material is related to Hisako and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's artwork and exhibitions.
Hisako Hibi's sketchbooks and notebooks nearly all contain a mixture of sketches and writings in English and Japanese. The writings range in subject from journal entries to notes on art, some of the sketches depict scenes from her travels across the U.S. as well as her trips to Japan. There are also two folders with a few drawings, sketches and prints by Matsusaburo "George" Hibi and their daughter Ibuki.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2022 by Ibuki Hibi Lee, Hisako and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's daughter. Additional material donated in 2023 by Amy Lee-Tai, Ibuki Lee's daughter.
Funding
Sponsor
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Processing Information
The collection arrived at the archives in multiple installments, most of which received a preliminary level of arrangement and were described in a finding aid in 2023. More additions to the collection arrived later and all the accessions were merged and the collection was fully processed, prepared for digitization, and described in an updated finding aid by Rihoko Ueno in 2024 with funding provided by the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
