Skip to main content

Link to Smithsonian homepage

Smithsonian Music

Main menu

  • Calendar
  • Listen
  • Learn
    • Ask Smithsonian
    • Collections Spotlights
    • Music Stories
  • Watch
  • Blog

Sanctuary at Western Sunset

Object Details

Gallery Label
Tom Nakashima visited Japan for the first time in 1988, inspiring the third generation Japanese American to take a deeper look into his heritage. As a form of meditation, painting is a way he explores his relationship with Eastern and Western cultures, conveyed through autobiographical imagery and a fluid use of symbols. A large chapel dominates the scene in Sanctuary at Western Sunset. It is a safe haven, a place of refuge inspired by two of Giotto's fourteenth-century frescos in the Arena Chapel in Padua, Italy. For Nakashima, the structure serves as a path to Japan and a visual representation of safety across cultures. A translucent fish, a self-portrait of the artist, approaches the threshold of the chapel as if embarking on a journey across the sea. Painted in thick, gestural brushstrokes, the fish casts a solid shadow as the sun sets over the mountainous horizon.
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist
Tom Nakashima, born Seattle, WA 1941
Date
1992
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Gail and John Enns
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
101 1/2 x 120 3/8 in. (257.9 x 305.9 cm)
Type
Painting

Featured In

  • Asian American Artists and Selected Works
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
View manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Link to Smithsonian homepage

  • About
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
Back to Top