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Title
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Miyoko Ito
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Description
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Miyoko Ito was born on April 27th, 1918, in Berkeley, California, to Japanese immigrant parents. In 1923, her family moved back to Japan to provide her with "what they believed to be a true and proper education"(Past Ordeal to Beauty), later returning to California five years shortly after. Ito studied art at University of California, Berkeley, which is where she developed a comfort in artmaking and shaped her own style. She was inspired by European Modernism, and especially Cubism. (cite Fendrich article:) and looked into cubism and the school of Paris. During World War II, with Executive Order 9066, she was interned at the Tanforan Assembly Center and later at the Topaz War relocation center. After the war, she was able to continue her studies at Smith college and the School of the Art of Institute of Chicago. These years of training, along with the refinement of her individual style, enabled Ito to become a well-known Asian American artist. With this her paintings are characterized by vast forms that really bring out architectural structures and landscapes. She was associated with the “Allusive Abstractionists,” which are a group of Chicago painters who really explored metaphorical and subjective abstraction. Her meticulous and fine technique included layering colors to create depth and a source of luminescence, and curiosity. Overall her work was unique and different but also impactful and important to the history and culture that we still even study to this day.
A work by Miyoko Ito, highlighted above, is Sea of Changes (1977), which was created in oil on canvas. In this painting, Ito really employs warm colors like reds, oranges, and yellows that are amplified by the contrast of applications of blues and greens at the top right, reminiscent of a seascape. The painting is layered to suggest a sight of waves and currents, that really conveys a sense of movement and transformation. Here precise brushwork and subtle gradations of color really create a sync of balance and fluidity that show her true methods and structure. She does this by showing the horizontal layerings of color and then composing them into vertical shapes that cut through and intersect the canvas, creating a sense of abstract three-dimensional form and depth. This work really reflects her interest in the cross play between the natural world and human perception or thoughts. It invites a sense of personal thought and views on her work, a view in your own type of way of feeling.
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Alternative Title
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Sea of Changes, oil on canvas, 1977
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Source
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“Miyoko Ito: Past Ordeal to Beauty.” Two Coats of Paint. March 2023. https://twocoatsofpaint.com/2023/03/miyoko-ito-past-ordeal-to-beauty.html.
“Sea Changes.” MutualArt. Accessed April 22, 2025.
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Sea-Changes/FC88A9110F2B2CD3.
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Name
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Nico Lambros
