Obata did illustration for magazines and newspapers, spent time in Japan designing his monumental Yosemite and other woodblock prints, and, in 1932, began teaching art at the University of California while he and his wife ran an art supply store and art studio in Berkeley. These publications were done before his wartime internment.
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William Frederick Calkins. Hokusai, A Fable In Fact. (Ben Kennedy, Gillick Press, Berkeley, 1940) Original boards. 6.5 x 8.75”, 16pp., deckle-edge paper. Obata’s “sumi and hair pen” color illustrations on title-page and 8 text-pages. Limited Edition of 114 copies
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Robin Lampson. The Mending of a Continent / Commemorating the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. (Archetype Press, Berkeley, 1937) Original stiff wrappers, 4pp. #441 of 500 copies, signed by Lampson. Front-cover illustration, “Bay Bridge from Yerba Buena” by Obata;
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Haruko Obata. An Illustrated Handbook of Japanese Flower Arrangement (Obata Studio, Berkeley,1940) Original decorative wrappers. 15pp. Front cover and text illustrations by Obata
