American Guardian

2007

Roger Shimomura, Artist Aaron Shipps, Printer Jesse Baker, Printer Michael Sims, Printer + 2 more

Not On View

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

About the Artwork

Surrounded by barracks and barbed wire, a toddler rides his tricycle under a soldier’s watchful gaze. The child represents the artist, Roger Shimomura, who was sent with his family to Camp Minidoka in Idaho in 1942, after US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt commanded the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Shimomura draws on his own experiences, popular culture, and contemporary and Japanese art to address the complexity of his identity as a third-generation Japanese American (sansei) and to protest anti-Asian racism in the United States. The gold clouds evoke those of Japanese paintings from the 1500s.

Title American Guardian

Artwork Date 2007

Makers Roger Shimomura (Artist) American, born 1939 Aaron Shipps (Printer) American Jesse Baker (Printer) American Michael Sims (Printer) American Will Burnip (Printer) American The Lawrence Lithography Workshop (Publisher) Lawrence, kansas

Medium Lithograph printed in color ink on white wove paper

Dimensions Image: 27 × 39 inches (68.6 × 99.1 cm) Sheet: 31 5/8 × 43 1/4 inches (80.3 × 109.9 cm)

Classification Prints

Department Prints, Drawings & Photographs

Credit Museum Purchase, Lee and Tina Hills Graphic Arts Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2011.91

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, in pencil, lower right: ROGER SHIMOMURA 2007

Inscriptions Inscribed, in pencil, lower center: "AMERICAN GUARDIAN" Inscribed, lower left: 14/50 Inscribed, lower left corner, verso, above the drystamp: 25H-06-2

Marks Drystamp, lower right corner: Lawrence Lithography Workshop Watermark: RIVES

Provenance

(Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City, Missouri, USA)

2011-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Roger Shimomura, American Guardian, 2007, lithograph printed in color ink on white wove paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Lee and Tina Hills Graphic Arts Fund, 2011.91.