Eitaro Ishigaki

Ishigaki Eitarō, The Bonus March, Oil on Canvas, 144,5 × 106 cm, 1932, Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama. was a Japanese-born American painter. He lived and worked in the United States between 1909 and 1952. Ishigaki, who came to the US as a migrant worker in the early 20th century, depicted the contradictions of American society from the perspective of a minority person. Ishigaki was also a founding member of progressive and politically active organizations, including the John Reed Clubs (JRC) in 1929 and the American Artists' Congress in 1936. His one of best known works, The Bonus March (1932), depicts a critical moment in WWI veterans' famous march into Washington, D.C., in 1932.

Ishigaki's work is held by the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1997 and 2013, the Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama held commemorative exhibitions of his works. His work is also located in the Ishigaki Eitaro Memorial Museum in Wakayama, Japan. According to the short biography in the anthology Asian American Art, 1850-1970, Ishigaki arrived with his father in Seattle and moved with him to Bakersfield, California, the following year. While Ishigaki was still working on the murals in the Harlem Courthouse, he was fired from the Federal Art Project together with other emigre artists in July 1937 because they were not American citizens. Later Ishigaki stated: "I have lived in this country for thirty years, but because Orientals cannot become citizens, they have taken our only means of livelihood from us. Though we live like other Americans—have been educated here, pay taxes, and have the same stomachs as American citizens—we are not allowed to become naturalized. You can see how unfair the whole thing is." In addition to his studies, Ishigaki was involved in a communist gathering led by the Japanese political activist Sen Katayama. Ishigaki already knew Katayama since they met in San Francisco in 1914. In 1929 Ishigaki was a founding member of the communist group John Reed Clubs, which included John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway. During this time, he also met the Mexican artists Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo and José Clemente Orozco. Under these influences, the style of his works, which have long reflected social issues, developed towards the sculptural modelling of forms that can be found in Rivera's murals. However, following the war, the Ishigakis were affected by the anti-communist McCarthy wave: in 1950, Ishigaki and Ayako Ishigaki were investigated several times by the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of their contacts with Agnes Smedley, who was accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union. In this context, the two also learned that their activities of the previous decades had been monitored by the United States government. Subsequently, the Ishigakis feared their arrests. Because of this, they did not participate in the commemorative event at the Friends Meeting House for Agnes Smedley on May 18, 1950. In 1951, Ishigaki left the country together with Ayako Ishigaki and returned to Japan. Later the building and its collection was donated to Taiji Town in 2002.