FRANK TAIRA (1913-2010)

AN ANALYSIS OF THE ARTIST'S WORK

All artists develop their style over time. Some artists, like Mark Rothko, find a voice early in their career, and spend the rest of their years exploring that vision. Taira was different; he continued exploring and evolving for all of his sixty-some year career. Although there are some themes and stylistic elements consistent throughout Tiara’s work, he painted his way through several, sometimes contradictory, expressions.

Taira was in the midst of a blossoming career when, at the age of 29, he was interned. Prior to his internment, he held early group exhibitions and was promised a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art. However, his career was suspended when he was, without ceremony, carted off to Topaz, Utah. We are left to speculate what he, and similar artists lost due to the years they were forced to spend at internment camps. Where would life have taken them, had they been allowed to continue their careers, uninterrupted?

As with most of the artists who were interned during these years, they were shuttled away without warning, and their possessions were lost or stolen in the process. Not a single piece of Tiara’s work before WWII survives. His school sketches, the influence of his early teachers and the development of his unique style are consequently unrecorded. The earliest recorded painting by Taira, Bunny, is dated 1943 and was completed while the aritst was interned. A competition was sponsored by the Quaker Friends Meeting House in Cambridge Massachusetts for interned artists of Japanese descent and Taira won $20 for 1st Prize in the Portrait category.

EDUCATION

1935-38 California School of Fine Arts
1945 Columbia University, New York City
1956 Art Students League, New York City
1957 New School For Social Research, New York City

AFFILIATIONS

Artists Equity Association of New York
Painters and Sculptors Society of New Jersey

COLLECTIONS

Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Michael Brown Collection, San Francisco, CA
Sullivan Goss Collection, Santa Barbara, CA

MORE ABOUT EDUCATION 

Ever so confident, seasoned by his San Francisco education, two years of internment and a more than a decade of commitment to his talent, the painter finds himself ensconced in this New York City studio, in the midst of didactic boards of from what looks to be an early solo exhibiton and a dozen pieces of his work, including a single watercolor and his works in oil.

At least one historian familiar with Taira's work commented that the guitar player (upper left in the photo) appears to be a very early piece of the artist's work, perhaps a self portrait from the 40's, while the painting of the bridge which the artist is holding and the cubist abstract on the wall to the right of the artist, would appear to be from the early 60's. The pose held by the guitar player is very similar to the Guitar Player in the upper left corner of this page which is dated 1962. Taira, as an artist, often worked a single composition over and over in several different paintings, refining and exploring its possibilities.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Aoki, Hiroshi ed., Jassi Reports: Spring/Summer, New York: Japanese American Social Services, Inc., 2007.
2. “Art,” New York Times, Oct. 26, 1980, pg. D60.
3. “Artist Taira Exhibits in New York,” Pacific Citizen, Friday, July 26, 1985.
4. “Arts and Entertainment Guide,” New York Times, Nov. 2, 1980, pg. GU14.
5. Brown, Michael. Views From Asian California 1920-1965, CA: ArtNetwork, 1992.
6. Chang, Johnson & Karlstrom. Asian American Art. Starting From Here. CA: Stanford University Press. (In Press anticipated fall of 2008.)
7. di Firenze, Cittta, Biennale Internazionale Dell’Arte Contemporanea, Dictionary of International Biography. Florence, Italy: Arte Studio, 2001.
8. “Display Ad 44,” New York Times, Feb. 12, 1962, pg. 9.
9. Dunsterville, Hilary, “Art Reviews,” The Village Voice, Oct. 2, 1958.
10. “Exhibition at Arts Center Gallery: Evi Fisk and Frank Taira,” Arts Magazine, v. 34, Feb. 1960, p. 69.
11. Falk, Peter Hastings ed., Who Was Who in American Art: 1564-1975, v. III, Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1999.
12. “Frank Taira- Nisei Artist to Have One-Man Exhibition,” New York Nichibei, Thursday, July 4, 1985, p.1-2.
13. “Gallery Exhibits Paintings of JA Artist Frank Taira,” Hokubei Mainichi, Tuesday, July 14, 1992.
14. Hall, Dorothy, “Art and Artists: Taira at Caravan,” Park East, Nov. 1980.
15. Hill, Kimi Kodani ed., Chiura Obata’s Topaz Moon: Art of the Internment, Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2000.
16. Hughes, Edan Milton, Artists in California 1786-1940, 3rd edition, Sacramento, CA: 2002.
17. Jaques Cattell Press (Ed.) Who’s Who in American Art. NY: R.R. Bower Co, 1976 & 1978.
18. Mallett, Daniel Trowbridge, Mallett's Index of Artists, International – Biographical, New York: Peter Smith, 1948, p. 283.
19. Ogata, Tami, “Frank Taira’s Art at the Marseilles,” New York Nichibei, Thursday, July 18, 1985 p. 1-2.
20. Opitz, Glenn B. ed., Dictionary of American Sculptors: 18th Century to the Present, Poughkeepsie, NY: Apollo,1984.
21. Smith, C. ed., Encyclopedia of Living Artists 1998/99, 10th ed., Ca: ArtNetwork, 1997.
22. “40 Years of Taira Paintings on Display in San Rafael,” Nichi Bei Times, Tuesday, July 21, 1992.