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    "url_title": "Margie Masako \"Koho\" Yamamoto",
    "title_sort": "yamamotomargiemasako",
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    "modified": "2023-12-15T06:06:51",
    "title": "Margie Masako \"Koho\" Yamamoto",
    "body": "<div class=\"mw-parser-output\">\n <div id=\"databox-PeopleDisplay\">\n  <table class=\"infobox\" width=\"200px;\">\n   <tbody>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Name\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Margie Masako \"Koho\" Yamamoto\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Born\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      1922\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Birth Location\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Alviso, California\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Generational Identifier\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n   </tbody>\n  </table>\n </div>\n <div id=\"databox-People\" style=\"display:none;\">\n  <p>\n   FirstName:Margie Masako;\nLastName:Yamamoto;\nDisplayName:Margie Masako \"Koho\" Yamamoto;\nBirthDate:1922-01-01;\nDeathDate:;\nBirthLocation:Alviso, California;\nGender:Female;\nEthnicity:JA;\nGenerationIdentifier:Kibei;\nNationality:US;\nExternalResourceLink:;\nPrimaryGeography:;\nReligion:;\n  </p>\n </div>\n <p>\n  The artist and Japanese sumi-e and calligraphy teacher \"Koho,\" the artist's name for Margie Masako Yamamoto, is a Kibei\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nisei/\" title=\"Nisei\">\n   Nisei\n  </a>\n  artist who taught Japanese sumi-e painting and calligraphy in New York. She studied Japanese and Western painting under\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Chiura_Obata/\" title=\"Chiura Obata\">\n   Chiura Obata\n  </a>\n  and artists in the\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Tanforan_(detention_facility)/\" title=\"Tanforan (detention facility)\">\n   Tanforan\n  </a>\n  and\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Topaz/\" title=\"Topaz\">\n   Topaz\n  </a>\n  concentration camps during WWII and the Art Students League of New York, where her work turned toward Abstract Expressionism. She opened her own studio in the 1970s, where she taught many students sumi-e and Japanese calligraphy, and had many exhibitions of her own work synthesizing Abstract Expressionism and sumi-e.\n </p>\n <p>\n  Masako Yamamoto was born 1922 in Alviso, California. She was the fourth child of calligrapher and poet father Wataro Yamamoto, and highly-educated mother Sayo. The family moved back to Japan soon after she was born, so Masako spent her early childhood in Fukuoka, Japan. She has practiced calligraphy since then. She lost her mother when she was four. She returned to the US in 1931 at the age of nine with her brother and two sisters. Wataro remained in the US while they were in Japan, working and sending money. He was operating a restaurant in San Jose by the time they returned from Japan.\n </p>\n <p>\n  With the outbreak of WWII, the family was first removed to the Tanforan Assembly Center, where Masako started taking classes in both Japanese and Western painting taught by Chiura Obata and\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/George_Matsusaburo_Hibi/\" title=\"George Matsusaburo Hibi\">\n   George\n  </a>\n  and\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Hisako_Hibi/\" title=\"Hisako Hibi\">\n   Hisako Hibi\n  </a>\n  . Masako and her family were then transferred to the Topaz concentration camp in Utah. She continued to study under Chiura Obata in the Topaz Art School which he opened on October 6, 1942. The artist name \"Koho\" was conferred on her by Obata as one of his top students. The name is composed of the characters for \"red\" (紅 ko) and \"harbor\" (浦 ho or ura) from his name Chiura (千浦thousand harbors) . Despite the severe hardship for most in the camps, she said her time there was liberating: \"I had a lot of time to create.\"\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n    [1]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n  And looking back, she recalled, \"I miss my teacher, Professor Chiura Obata. That was one of my most memorable periods.\"\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n    [2]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n  Being a fluent Japanese writer, she also joined a poetry club at Topaz.\n </p>\n <p>\n  About a year later, she was transferred with her family to the\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Tule_Lake/\" title=\"Tule Lake\">\n   Tule Lake\n  </a>\n  Segregation Center on September 28, 1943. After the war ended, she left for New York on September 24, 1945. There she worked as a nurse's aide, a ceramic painter, and other jobs and studied art at\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Taro_Yashima/\" title=\"Taro Yashima\">\n   Taro Yashima\n  </a>\n  's art studio along with other Japanese American artists, including\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Hideo_Kobashigawa/\" title=\"Hideo Kobashigawa\">\n   Hideo Kobashigawa\n  </a>\n  whom she married in 1951. They were both awarded an 18-month scholarship to study at the Art Students League of New York where she studied for seven years. During this period, Masako's art moved towards Abstract Expressionism.\n </p>\n <p>\n  Still struggling economically, the couple lived in a public housing project in Brooklyn. Masako quit painting during this period to earn a living while Hideo worked in a Japanese restaurant and continued painting. They were separated for a period when she left for San Francisco to look after her father, but she returned to New York in 1955 and resumed her study of art. They divorced in 1964.\n </p>\n <p>\n  The year she returned to New York, Masako joined \"Gallery 84,\" one of the original 10th street Cooperative Art Galleries, presenting a one-woman show. An Art News critic described her paintings then as \"fantastic dark landscapes.\"\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n    [3]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n  She opened her own school of sumi-e and Japanese calligraphy under the name \"Koho\" in 1973 at 64 MacDougal Street in New York City. She was in the vanguard of artists taking advantage of the lofts and cheap rents in SoHo, when the streets were mostly deserted and the storefronts empty. When Koho was struggling to run her sumi-e school, after seeing her work,\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Isamu_Noguchi/\" title=\"Isamu Noguchi\">\n   Isamu Noguchi\n  </a>\n  sometimes called her studio and encouraged her. In a letter expressing his support for her abstract sumi-e, he wrote, \"I find your paintings to be exceptionally beautiful.\"\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n    [4]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n  As a teacher, she emphasized the Notan style of sumi-e with its dark and light tonalities, only allowing more advanced students in incorporate watercolor and Abstract Expressionism. Her school, the only one of its kind in New York, survived for 37 years on MacDougal Street, closing in 2010.\n </p>\n <p>\n  Koho has exhibited her work in many solo and group shows, including\n  <br/>\n </p>\n <p>\n  1973\tJapan Cultural Center, NY\n  <br/>\n  1975 \tJapanese Art Museum [Sato Sakura Museum]\n  <br/>\n  1978 \tFairleigh Dickinson University\n  <br/>\n  1979 \tNew York World Trade Center and Bizen Gallery, NY\n  <br/>\n  1980 \ttraveling exhibit to China\n  <br/>\n  1983 \tCharles Evans Gallery, NY\n  <br/>\n  1985 \tKoch Gallery, Lincoln Center, NY\n  <br/>\n  1986 \tKukwao Gallery, Tenafly, NJ\n  <br/>\n  1987 \tNew York Open Center\n  <br/>\n  1989 \tKenshaw Gallery, Woodstock, NY\n  <br/>\n  2004 \tEvergreen Gallery, Spring Lake, NJ\n  <br/>\n  2008 \tJapanese American Internment Art Exhibit\n  <br/>\n  2012 \tInterchurch Center Corridor Gallery\n  <br/>\n  2013 \tAaron Davis Hall, CCNY; 2017 Cubico, Soho, NYC\n  <br/>\n  2014\tJapanese American Association of New York, NY\n  <br/>\n </p>\n <p>\n  She has also been featured as a guest lecturer at Columbia University and New York University and has been exhibited in Japan.\n </p>\n <p>\n  Masako is alive and well in New York, meeting with students and continuing her artwork.\n </p>\n <div id=\"authorByline\">\n  <b>\n   Authored by\n   <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Ben_Kobashigawa/\" title=\"Ben Kobashigawa\">\n    Ben Kobashigawa\n   </a>\n   , Emeritus, Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University\n  </b>\n </div>\n <div id=\"citationAuthor\" style=\"display:none;\">\n  Kobashigawa, Ben\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n  <h2>\n   <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n    For More Information\n   </span>\n  </h2>\n  <div class=\"section_content\">\n   <p>\n    \"Koho – School of Sumi-e website:\n    <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"https://kohoyamamoto.com/about-2/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     https://kohoyamamoto.com/about-2/\n    </a>\n    .\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    \"KohoArt\" Facebook page:\n    <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/kohoart/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     https://www.facebook.com/kohoart/\n    </a>\n    .\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Chang, Gordon H., Mark Dean Johnson, and Paul J. Karlstrom, editors.\n    <i>\n     Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970\n    </i>\n    . Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2008.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Farmer, Ann. \"\n    <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/reflections-on-a-stilled-paintbrush/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     Reflections on a Stilled Paintbrush.\n    </a>\n    \" New York Times, May 27, 2010.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    <i>\n     Hideo Kobashigawa, a Retrospective: A Kibei Nisei Artist’s Life and Dream\n    </i>\n    . Okinawa Prefecture, 2000.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Hill, Kimi Kodani, ed.\n    <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://archive.org/details/chiuraobatastopa00obat\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     <i>\n      Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata's Art of the Internment\n     </i>\n    </a>\n    . Berkeley: Heyday, 2000.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Koppel, Lily. \"\n    <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/nyregion/a-philosophy-runs-through-each-brush-stroke.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     A Philosophy Runs through Each Brush Stroke.\n    </a>\n    \"\n    <i>\n     New York Times\n    </i>\n    . Dec. 27, 2005.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    New York Handmade Collective. \"\n    <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://nyhandmadecollective.org/blog/2017/10/24/sumi-e-artist-koho-yamamoto-new-york-citys-treasure\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     Sumi-e Artist Koho Yamamoto, New York City’s Treasure.\n    </a>\n    \" Oct 24, 2017.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TtTIP9SqD4\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     Koho Yamamoto interview\n    </a>\n    by Frank Debourge, ca. 2018.\n   </p>\n  </div>\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n  <h2>\n   <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n    Footnotes\n   </span>\n  </h2>\n  <div class=\"section_content\">\n   <div class=\"reflist\" style=\"list-style-type: decimal;\">\n    <div class=\"mw-references-wrap\">\n     <ol class=\"references\">\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Ann Farmer, \"Reflections on a Stilled Paintbrush,\"\n        <i>\n         New York Times\n        </i>\n        , May 27, 2010, accessed on March 23, 2020 at\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/reflections-on-a-stilled-paintbrush/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/reflections-on-a-stilled-paintbrush/\n        </a>\n        .\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Koho Yamamoto, interviewed by Frank Debourge, ca. 2018, accessed on Aug. 18, 2019 at\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"https://frankdebourge.com/pages/koho-yamamoto\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         https://frankdebourge.com/pages/koho-yamamoto\n        </a>\n        .\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Farmer, \"Reflections.\"\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Isamu Noguchi to Koho Yamamoto, May 30, 1985, Koho Yamanoto’s Facebook page, accessed Mar. 21, 2020 at\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pg/kohoart/photos/?ref=page_internal\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         https://www.facebook.com/pg/kohoart/photos/?ref=page_internal\n        </a>\n        .\n       </span>\n      </li>\n     </ol>\n    </div>\n   </div>\n   <!-- \nNewPP limit report\nCached time: 20231215060651\nCache expiry: 86400\nDynamic content: false\nComplications: []\nCPU time usage: 0.014 seconds\nReal time usage: 0.018 seconds\nPreprocessor visited node count: 211/1000000\nPost‐expand include size: 1908/2097152 bytes\nTemplate argument size: 384/2097152 bytes\nHighest expansion depth: 6/40\nExpensive parser function count: 0/100\nUnstrip recursion depth: 0/20\nUnstrip post‐expand size: 1968/5000000 bytes\nExtLoops count: 0\n-->\n   <!--\nTransclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template)\n100.00%   11.783      1 -total\n 24.51%    2.888      1 Template:Reflist\n 17.58%    2.071      1 Template:Databox-People\n 12.06%    1.421      1 Template:Published\n 11.92%    1.405      1 Template:AuthorByline\n-->\n   <!-- Saved in parser cache with key encycmw:pcache:idhash:4227-0!canonical and timestamp 20231215060651 and revision id 35641\n -->\n  </div>\n </div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"toplink\">\n <a href=\"#top\">\n  <i class=\"icon-chevron-up\">\n  </i>\n  Top\n </a>\n</div>",
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