PBA Galleries

Complete issue. Original wrappers with chipped edges.

Rare periodical illustrations by the first famous Japanese- American artist

Born in Yokohama in 1854, Toshio Aoki emigrated to San Francisco in 1880 to become a commercial artist for a department store and to draw cartoons for a local newspaper. Relocating to Pasadena, while maintaining his San Francisco studio, by 1890, he became the best-known Japanese-American artist in the United States decorating bungalows by the prominent  Arts and Crafts architects Greene and Greene while his paintings graced the mansions of the wealthiest Americans.  He rarely did illustrations for periodicals such as those found in this issue of a short-lived San Francisco magazine which appeared the same year Aoki exhibited at the Chicago World’s  Fair.