At the age of 19, Henry Sugimoto left Japan to make his life in America. Determined to become an artist, he studied in the San Francisco Bay Area and exhibited nationally and internationally.When he was unjustly incarcerated at 42 in the Jerome and Rohwer concentration camps in Arkansas, the experience irreversibly affected how he viewed himself, his art, and the Japanese American experience. The only thing that remained constant was his desire to paint.

This retrospective survey features works from the National Museum’s extensive collection of Sugimoto’s paintings, prints, drawings, and writing, and spans the entirety of his prolific career as an artist. Henry Sugimoto: Painting an American Experience tells the compelling story of an immigrant, a Japanese American, and an artist.

View paintings from the Henry Sugimoto Collection online.