Miyoko Ito

{{Short description|American painter (1918–1983)}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Miyoko Ito

| image = Photo of Miyoko Ito.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|4|27|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Berkeley, California

| death_date = {{death date and age|1983|8|18|1918|4|27|mf=y}}

| death_place = Chicago, Illinois

| nationality = American

| education = University of California Berkeley, Smith College, Art Institute of Chicago

| field = Painting

| training =

| movement = Abstract Art

| works =

| patrons =

| awards = Guggenheim Fellowship {{small|(1977)}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Harry Ichiyasu|1942|}}

}}

Miyoko Ito (April 27, 1918–August 18, 1983) was an American artist known for her watercolor and abstract oil paintings and prints.{{cite web |title=Miyoko Ito |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/miyoko-ito-2408 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326153142/https://americanart.si.edu/artist/miyoko-ito-2408 |archive-date=March 26, 2023 |accessdate=September 12, 2017 |website=Smithsonian American Art Museum}}{{cite web |last1=Wakida |first1=Patricia |date=January 12, 2018 |title=Miyoko Ito |url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Miyoko%20Ito/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205073617/https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Miyoko%20Ito/ |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |accessdate=September 12, 2017 |website=Densho Encyclopedia}}Sensemann, Susan. In [https://www.amazon.com/Women-Building-Chicago-1790-1990-Biographical/dp/0253338522 Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary], Rima Lunina Schultz and Adele Hast (Eds.), Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001, p. 430–2. Retrieved September 27, 2018. Ito was part of an informal group of like-minded, but visually diverse Chicago painters, self-named the "Allusive Abstractionists" and formed in 1981. The group, which also included William Conger, Richard Loving and Frank Piatek, was formed to spark dialogue and make space for a wider conception of abstraction that included more subjective, metaphorical work.Gedo, Mary Mathews. "Abstraction as Metaphor: The Evocative Imagery of William Conger, Richard Loving, Frank Piatek, Miyoko Ito", Arts Magazine, p. 112-117, 1982.{{Cite book |last=Boris |first=Staci |title=Art in Chicago 1945-1995 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |year=1996 |isbn=9780500237281 |editor-last=Warren |editor-first=Lynne |location=New York |pages=259–60 |language=en |chapter=Miyoko Ito |oclc=36076230 |editor-last2=Abell |editor-first2=Jeff |chapter-url=http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/artists/miyoko-ito/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510195149/http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/artists/miyoko-ito/ |archive-date=10 May 2021 |url-status=dead |via=Corbett vs. Dempsey}} Though tangentially involved with the Chicago Imagists, Ito's own style diverged and synthesized cubism and surrealism.

Ito was born in Berkeley, California, on April 27, 1918, to Japanese parents, but returned to Japan with her family in 1923 to receive a traditional Japanese art education and escape discrimination. Five years later, the Itos returned to California, where Miyoko went to the University of California, Berkeley and studied art. There, she was exposed to the ideas of the School of Paris, Hans Hofman, and cubism, all of which influenced her later work. Just before her graduation in 1942, as a Japanese American, she was sent to the Tanforan internment camp near San Francisco following the signing of Executive Order 9066.{{Cite journal |last=Sussman |first=Matt |date=March 1, 2018 |title=Miyoko Ito |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/miyoko-ito-62485/ |url-status=live |journal=Art in America |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=114–115 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321015813/https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/miyoko-ito-62485/ |archive-date=21 March 2023 |access-date=13 December 2023}} Though imprisoned in the American concentration camp at Topaz during World War II, Ito was granted her diploma. After her release, she studied at Smith College and the Art Institute of Chicago.

She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1977.

She died on August 18, 1983, in Chicago, Illinois.

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive exhibited a small retrospective of her work in 2018, renewing interest in the artist's work.