Hisako Hibi

Born in Yamura Village, Mikata District (now part of Wakasa Town, Mikata Kaminaka District), Fukui Prefecture. Her maiden name was Shimizu. In 1920, she emigrated to San Francisco with her parents. They returned to Japan in 1925, but she remained alone and graduated from Lowell High School. She studied at the California School of Fine Arts from 1926 to 1929, where she met Matsusaburo George Hibi. They got married in 1930, and moved to Mt. Eden, and later to Hayward, California, where they raised two children. Before World War II, she exhibited at various group shows and was selected for the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1940. Immediately before the incarceration in May 1942, Hisako and Matsusaburo donated their works to various public locations in the community, most of which were unfortunately lost. They were initially interned at Tanforan Assembly Center and later transferred to Topaz Internment Camp, where she created more than 70 paintings while teaching in art classes. After the war, they moved to New York, but she faced Matsusaburo’s sudden death in 1947. For a living, she worked in sawing jobs. She visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York to study oil paintings. This experience led her to shift to more abstract paintings. In 1954, she returned to San Francisco and served as the president of the California Japanese Artists Society. She passed away in San Francisco in 1991.